Lightning in the Dawn
by lovable mountain path
Summary: After KH2. The KH gang is split up once again and Riku finds himself alone. That is until he meets a rambunctious girl with amazing fighting skills. Their dark pasts collide as they try to find Sora and gang while saving the worlds from darkness. Riku/OC ***ON HIATUS***
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this fanfic a LONG time ago. I'm going through these chapters and revising them.**

**Revised October 2012**

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Chapter 1

He appreciated more, the waves, the rustle of the branches, the heat of the sun, everything the island had to offer he no longer took for granted. He no loner wanted to leave his paradise, his home. When Riku discovered the key hole to Destiny Island he became obsessed with its power, with its potential. He wanted to leave because he wanted to find answers for questions that he didn't even know he could ponder.

But while trying to find this answers, he only became more lost.

_"This place...why did I ever want to leave? This place is my home, this place..."_

"The door to the light. What do you think it was Riku?"

Riku turned to his best friend, amazed that Sora still couldn't find that answer.

Riku lifted up his arm and pointed to straight at Sora's heart. "It's this."

Sora looked down, quizzical. "This?"

Sora is and always will be Riku's best friend, but Sora could sometimes be so oblivious to things. Maybe that was why everyone liked him. His attitude only seemed to attract people, his carefree nature was something that, in fact, attracted Riku to him. It was this attitude that saved his life after all.

"Sora! Riku!"

The two boys turned from there post on the small island that hovered above the shallow ocean. Kairi ran, or rather sprinted to the boys with a frantic face that demanded their attention.

It was a little amusing to see Kairi run so hard, to the point where she was breathless upon reaching them. Sora, intriged and slightly concerned, questioned Kairi first.

"Hey what's up?" Sora said, giving Kairi a look of concern and curiosity.

"Look!" Kairi showed the two boys a small bottle with a note inside. Sora and Riku's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads, they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"The King!" Sora yelped before grabbing the bottle from Kairi's hands. King Mickey's seal, a small mouse head that was all black, was stamped on the outside of the note.

Sora opened the letter, and all three friends hovered over his shoulders reading the note intently. Riku felt a surge of anxiety well up inside him. After everything that Mickey and him had been through, he knew that the King would only contact them in such a matter if something serious had happened. Something involving the heartless or nobodies...or maybe a new danger.

To his surprise, Riku found the handwriting foreign. Mickey hadn't written the letter, but the severity Riku suspected was still evident.

In cute, curvy cursive writing the note read:

_Dear Sora, Kairi, and Riku, The Keyblade Wielders,_

_You must hurry and come to Disney Castle! The King has gone missing and the castle is in chaos. Please, I don't know who else to turn to. Once the King left the Light of the Cornerstone lost its light! Heartless are now over running the castle! I have prepared a Gummi Ship to take you to the castle immediately, hopefully it makes it to Destiny Island safely. Please be prepared, I don't know how long we can keep this up._

_Please hurry,  
Queen Minnie_

_The King has gone missing. _The words made Riku's insides crumble. His dear friend, one of his greatest forms of support in his times of darkness was...gone? And to make things worse, the castle is under siege from heartless.

The trio didn't speak for a while, still trying to process the information they had just read. They couldn't believe, or rather, they didn't _want _to believe what the note read.

"This in horrible!" Kairi said finally, bringing her hand to her mouth as she backed away from Sora and Riku.

"The heartless are back and the Light of the Cornerstone has lost its power? H-how?" Sora said, still starring at the note as if it would answer his question or reveal some hidden information.

Riku didn't say anything, he ran through about a hundred scenarios per minute but he couldn't understand why Mickey would leave his home...his wife.

Sora finally put down the note and walked over to Kairi to comfort her. He tentively made a move to hold her lightly before she quickly srung to life, a new fire in her eyes.

"We have to go help Minie! That's the only way we're going to figure out what's going on! And I'm definitely going! No matter how dangerous it sounds! Ok!?" Kairi looked between Sora and Riku, before deciding to leave her gaze on Sora. Riku could see Sora becoming more and more uncomfortable. If it weren't for the current situation he would have found their stare-off quite amusing. He knew Sora didn't want Kairi to get hurt, but Kairi was tough and, when she was as passionate as she was now, could be quite...well...scary.

"I...I don't ever want to be separated from you guys again. I never want that to happen...so I'm definitely going." Kairi said, calmly and with a voice so low that Riku thought she was only talking to Sora.

"Yeah." Sora said calmly, smiling at Kairi while holding his fist up in a victory pose. "We'll stick together this time, no matter what!" Riku wasn't surprised, typical Sora. He could never resist Kairi.

-0-

The sun was heading toward the horizon. Making the sky glow a brilliant orange and yellow. The Gummi Ship arrived as the sun travelled below the ocean.

Riku wasn't scared; that emotion was lost a long time ago when Riku lived in darkness. However, Riku felt anxious the entire ride to the castle. He gripped the arm rest with his right hand, his leg shook to a hap hazardous beat as the Gummi Ship rocketed past asteroids and old enemy structures that were nothing more than ruins as a result of Sora's journey a while ago.

Again, thousands of thoughts ran through Riku's head. The story almost didn't make sense. Disney Castle was a sanctuary in a world that was overrun with darkness. Riku remembered fantasizing about the castle as he walked next to Mickey in the darkness. His stories of a place that was filled with light and hope, at first, made Riku think of Mickey as a fool. Back then there was no such place in exsistance. Perhaps in the past, before Ansem, before the heartless, before evil... But the way Mickey spoke of his home, his wife, heck even his dog finally convinced Riku that _perhaps _a place as glorious and happy as the Castle could exist.

The Gummi Ship arrived to the castle quickly, meeting no enemies on the way. From a distance the colorful and bright world looked tranquil from a distance. Riku recognized its small red flags that flapped in the wind. The blue shingles of the Castle's roof gleamed brightly against the yellow sun.

"Oh no!" Kairi said, once the Gummi Ship neared closer to the Castle's hanger. The seemingly peaceful world was nothing but gloom and despair. Riku felt his insides sink slightly, the dread hanging in the air taking an immediate toll on his body.

Heartless were every where and Riku couldn't help but think that nothing would ever get rid of these things. After everything he had been through, after everything he had done nothing seemed to change. Was everything that Sora had gone through worthless?

I guess they would find out.

Riku looked out the Gummi Ship window, studying the heartless below them.

They were mainly low ranking heartless, the pests that found strength in numbers. Soldiers walked across the grassy courtyard and convulsed wildly as the Gummi Ship rode over their heads.

"What's the plan?" Riku said as the Gummi Ship finally docked in the hanger. Chip and Dale were no where to be found; not surprising at all to Riku or Sora.

"We have to find the Cornerstone. If it still has some power left then it should be able to protect a small area around it." Riku was surprised. Despite Sora being just a silly kid, he really did learn something while embarking on all his journeys.

"Ok! Do you remember where it is Sora?" Sora looked up to the sky, using his right pointer finger to tap against his chin in thought.

"Mmmmm...yep!" He said while summoning his Keyblade. It was similar to the Keyblade the King used, which stirred up a strange amount of emotions within Riku. Where exactly had his friend gone?

Kairi summoned her Keyblade as well. Riku always noted how the Keyblade fit her personality. It was pink and girly, cute and frilly. Not exactly the best choice of weapon, Riku thought, but Kairi could hold her own with it. She had learned how to fight with it properly with help from Sora and Riku.

Riku summoned The Way to Dawn in his hand. The weapon felt weightless as Riku gripped the familiar hilt of his weapon. He could feel its power travel through him, as if the weapon was speaking to him. _The darkness, the darkness, the darkness is near. _He allowed a bit of dark aura to travel through the length of the weapon. It wasn't the same as the power he possessed when he accepted the form of Ansem, but it was still powerful nevertheless. Sora had helped him realize that that power wasn't necessary, he just needed his heart...

The group ran through the courtyard with ease, since the Heartless there were weak and still felt the influence of the Light of the Cornerstone, despite its reseeding power. Riku slashed though multiple enemies at a time, sweeping his Keyblade in quick arcs across his body as he rushed toward his enemies. Within two hits each enemy fell, their hearts ascending to Kingdom Hearts in huge clusters of glimmering pink.

Riku turned toward his friends, finding that they were nearly done with their pack of enemies. Sora had stuck close to Kairi and helped her fight a pack of Shadows and Soldiers. They were no match for Sora, his experience fighting Heartless showed as he easily swept his Keyblade through them over and over. Riku blocked a rampaging Soldiers attack, throwing it back with an upper slash from his Keyblade. It knocked back into another Soldier, both bodies slamming into a cracked pillar. Two pink hearts floated above Riku's head.

"Sora!" Kairi yelped as she watched as Sora became surrounded by Soldiers. Riku ran to his friend, since he had defeated all of his enemies, and proceeded to help his friend as a Soldier prepared to unleash a frenzy of kicks, its special ability that could inflict a significant amount of damage if not parried.

Sora, calmly, retaliated quickly. He gathered the power from his Keyblade and floated in the air, hitting a majority of the enemies at once with a spinning move that instantly destroyed the Heartless. Riku and Kairi cut through the remaining Heatless, leaving the courtyard empty.

"This way!" Sora yelled once his power resided and the last enemy was destroyed. He led the group to a massive door in a hallway, which concealed another smaller door built into the framework. Riku would have found the site funny; the king making such an effort to create such an intimidating feature only to cut a small door frame that was perfect for his size. Riku would be sure to find Mickey now, especially since he could make fun of him for this outrageous door. _Another reason to find him..._

"Just follow me. The Hall of the Cornerstone room is right under that throne over there." Sora pointed to the end of a large white room. The only decoration in the room was the long red carpet that extended from the door to a small throne and a series of pillars that lined up along the walls.

Riku had to squint to see the throne on the other side of the room. _Why is this place so massive? _Nothing seemed to go your way when you owned a Keyblade.

The trio ran toward the throne, cautious and ready for heartless to appear in front of them as they typically did. Their foot steps echoed loudly, fighting against the silence in the room.

"Oh great." Riku said, once band of five Nobodies appeared in front of the group.

"Nobodies?!" Sora said, causing Kairi to flinch slightly in fear upon seeing an old enemy again.

Their lanky white bodies swayed slowly toward them as they prepared to attack. Riku charged first, attacking a single Dusk mercilessly, not allowing it even a second to prepare an attack. Sora and Kairi joined in as well, quickly signaling out Dusks all the while dodging attacks from enemies they weren't not targeting yet.

_Why the hell are there Nobodies here? _Riku grunted as he parried an attack from a floating Dusk. Its arms flailed wildly, cutting the air as it travelled toward Riku through the air. It spun slowly back to the ground when making contact with Riku's defense, leaving it open for a series of deadly attacks.

This...it made no sense to Riku. The situation no longer felt dire, it felt lie a horrible nightmare. Organization XIII had long since been destroyed, and their influence and power were destroyed along with them. Riku thought that Nobodies would no longer be an issue, since they were merely a manifestation of the Organization. It was...unsettling. Riku felt his stomach churn as more Nobodies appeared, this time higher ranking enemies.

Dusks, Creepers, and Assassins appeared simultaneously, approaching the group quickly forcing the trio to huddle together, their backs pressed to one another. Riku's Keyblade glowed a deeper black as the enemies closed in, the dark aura illuminating they sweat on his face. He could faintly hear Kairi pant as she held here Keyblade in front of her, despite her eyes being filled with fear and doubt.

"Sora, any ideas here." Riku asked as the Assassins phased into the ground and stalked closer to the group. Riku didn't doubt that they could take this group of Nobodies, but what if there were more. It would be useless to exert energy on an inevitable battle. Espacially since the castle proved to be rampant with enemies.

"This way!" Sora yelled, running toward the throne before the Nobodies closed of any sort of path. Riku and Kairi follwed suit, looking back at the enemies as they quickened their pace seeing that their prey was running.

"What are you doing?" Riku yelled as he parried a wild attack from an Assassin, causing the Nobody to float slowly into the air. Riku proceeded to attack the vulnerable enemy, only to be attack by a couple of Creepers that spawned right at the Dawn Wielder's feet. Kairi yelped as she watched Riku barely block their morphing attack, their ax-like bodies swining right at Riku's mid section.

Riku slid backwards at the force, his hands and arms vibrating from the close proximity of the attack.

"Ok got it!" Sora yelled before a blinding white light filled the room. Riku brought his arm to his eyes, the birhgtness of the light nearly blinding him.

The light receded, leaving the room empty besides the three friends. Riku lowered his hands slowly, The Way of the Dawn gripped tightly in his hands as he waited for the Nobodies to return. They never did. Riku didn't want to question how Sora had managed to activate that feature, and followed his friend down a hidden corridor that appeared under the stage the throne was sitting on.

The group scaled the stair case, leaving the whiteness of the room behind them and entered a more dark and gloomy atmosphere.

They entered a large room, dark and full of people. Riku heard Kairi gasp and Sora had said something, but it was all white noise to Riku. He could only focus on the scene in front of him.

The eyes of what seemed to be every castle inhabitant were on them. Their new found hope of relief was spewing from each of their watery orbs as they witnessed the only three saviors they knew. The three Keyblade wielders stood together, something they wouldn't be able to do for a while.

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**Revised October 2012**


	2. Chapter 2

**OK here's chapter 2! I want to thank Shadows-Dancing-in-the-Hall for my first review! Thanks Asian buddy! OK remember this story is still taking off, but once all the intros are out of the way the adventure will begin.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but i do own my first oc Hikari!**

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Chapter 2

Riku P.O.V.

When we finally reached the Hall of the Cornerstone, we found most of the castle's inhabitants huddled close to a large glowing sphere. Light was exceeding from the sphere, but it was very faint and it barely lit the room.

"Sora!" A small, elegantly dressed female mouse came running out of the crowd of people. Minnie…

"What's going on here? What's happened to the Corner Stone?" Sora asked hastily while Kairi went to hug the Queen.

"Oh, it's just horrible Sora. The King went missing a few days ago, and the heartless and nobodies arrived and overtook the castle." Minnie looked on the verge of tears, which made me even more concerned. Mickey wasn't the one to just abandon his home and wife, but why would he leave without any notice?

"Queen Minnie, what happened to the cornerstone?" The Cornerstone of Light looked weakened somewhat. From what Sora told me, it protects the castle from darkness and the castle was built around the Cornerstone for safety. It has only malfunctioned once when Maleficent tried to take over the castle but Sora saved it.

"The cornerstone's protection is now limited to this room only, but I'm still afraid that its power will recede completely." Minnie looked over the crowd of people occupying the hall.

Sora then turned to me. "We have to help them; maybe we can find the source of all these heartless, and the person who's causing the Cornerstone to fail. Then we can search for the King"

"Yeah" was really all I could offer as a reply.

"Let's check out the Cornerstone." Kairi left the Queen and ran to the cornerstone. When Sora and I walked closer to the Cornerstone, a strange light from Sora's Keyblade appeared.

"Huh?" Before I knew it, a bright light exploded from the Cornerstone, engulfing everything in the room.

"Riku!"

"Sora? Kairi?"

"Riku! Where are you?"

"I'm right…" That's when I blacked out.

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"Hey buddy, are you alright?"

"Ugh, Sora? Kairi?"

"Hey, can you get up?"

"Huh?" I opened my eyes and the first thing I see are these beautiful gunmetal gray eyes. At first I was shocked because I was being hovered over by girl, and then I realized that I wasn't in the castle anymore. I wasn't with Sora and Kairi again.

"What…where am I!" I shot up from the ground and looked at my surroundings. There were huge crystal walls shooting up from the ground, creating a glimmering cave –like area. It was almost unreal, where was I? "What is this place?"

"You're in Radiant Garden, buddy. Right now we're at the Crystal Fissure, but you're not supposed to be here. Oh, don't move around too much, it looks like you hit your head pretty damn hard."

"What!" Radiant Garden! I remember this place, only I remember it being called Hollow Bastion. Sora told me of how everyone remembered its true name before Maleficent and I made it our "home". How did I end up here?

"You hoo! Earth to silver head guy?

"Huh? What?" I finally snapped out of it.

"I said my name is Hikari, what's yours?"

"Uh, Riku." This girl was annoying, but I need a locals help around. I most definitely didn't know where to go though. Wait I know exactly where I need to go, I need to find that guy Sora used to talk about, what was his name? "Do you know an uh, I wizard guy named, uh, Mervin?"

"You mean Merlin?"

"Yeah! Do you know where he is?"

"Why do you wanna see that old geezer? Ok…umm Merlin's probably at home, but it's a pretty far walk to town. Wait are you even from here!"

"No, but I need to see him, NOW!" It looked like this girl was about to blow up on me, when all the sudden these heartless began to appear.

"Great, just what I need." I summoned my Keyblade and positioned myself in front of the girl, what's her name, Hikari. "Just stay back."

I swung Soul Eater in the air and sliced about three Dusks at once. The fight was easy, that is until dancer Nobodies showed up.

Oh no, these are high ranking Nobodies. "Hey just run, i can take these Nobodies." I didn't want an innocent life to be taken by these creatures. Never again.

"Haaaa!" What? I turned around and realized that Hikari was fighting with her own weapon as well. Who is girl?

Hikari P.O.V.

"No, but I need to see him, NOW!" I was just about to tell this Riku guy off when those strange creatures Merlin warned me about appeared. Heartless I believed is what he called them. Time for some fun.

"Great just what I need." I saw that Riku had summoned this fancy looking sword. It was actually very beautiful. The actual sword appeared to be a demonic wing, and an angel wing was protruding from the top of the blade. The handle was enclosed by a morphed circle which was separated into a heavenly white color and a dark blue color similar to the color of the blade. There was a bright blue gem that rested near the top of the handle, below where the blade began to shape.

"Just stay back." Was he talking to me? He obviously didn't know that I had beaten the best fighter in this city, or that I could even fight. I guess I'll watch this hot shot tire himself out then I'll show him up.

To my surprise Riku wasn't that bad. He had great speed and took out all of these wimpy Heartless without any effort. It seemed like the battle was over until these weird pink human-like creatures appeared. These creatures didn't look too wimpy. I summoned my blade and prepared for a fight.

"Hey just run, i can take these Nobodies." Like hell i was gonna run. I picked up my blade and attacked.

"Haaaa!" These creatures were strong. My usual K.O. strikes were just pushing them back. Then one started to glow and it came right at me. Next thing I know I'm being swung in the air every which way and then I'm kicked hard into the air.

Now I was pissed.

I got up quickly ignoring my pain. "Well I guess I have no choice. Hey Riku, I can end this now! Just cover your eyes!"

"What are you talking about? It takes time to defeat these Nobodies with simple attacks! What are you planning?" This boy is about to witness some of my power.

"Just watch. The city's best fighter is about to work her magic." I planted my feet in a wide stance and focused all my energy into my blade. I felt the blade begin to levitate out of my hands. I concentrated on every creature, then I released my power.

When I opened my eyes the creatures were gone, but the realization of pain returned. "Ugh, my side."

Riku P.O.V.

Hikari's golden, jagged blade levitated over her head and began to glow a glittery light. I could feel the power pulsating from the blade and then the power built up in the blade was released. The blade jerked in the air releasing an immense wave of magic, which destroyed every dancer nobody.

When I could safely open my eyes I saw that Hikari was kneeling down on the ground clutching her side. "Ugh, my side."

"Are you alright? Can you get up?"

"Yah, I think so, oh wait… I was just kidding . I need help." She looked at me with a pleading expression. That's when I actually _looked_ at this girl.

She was wearing a black tank top with a worn out green vest similar to mine, only this one looked like it had been chewed up by a dog. She had short black shorts and shoes with a color similar to her vest. Her skin was pale but her eyes were an incredible gray. I have never seen those colored eyes before. The most bizarre thing about her was her hair. It was pulled up onto her head and hung down to the floor. It was a dark black with random pure yellow streaks in it. It reminded me of lightning in the night sky.

"Just tell me where your nearest medical center is and I'll get you there." I picked her up and decided to carry her into town. She was pretty light and I wasn't dazed any more.

"No. Just take me to Merlin. He can help both of us and the Restoration Committee can help too."

"Fine. Just tell me where to go and hold on." Hikari was pretty light so sprinting was easy. But I felt kind of nervous when I was holding her, I had the same feeling from when I first saw Kairi. What was this?

From here the paths of two corrupted hearts merged, every step taken brings their heart beats into sync.

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**OK so how was the oc? AND DON'T WORRY! ALL OF RIKU'S CONFUSION WILL BE RELIEVED WHEN HE MEETS MERLIN! plus Riku and Hikari get to know each other :) review? please?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Forgive me on my late update! School has not been my friend these past few days...but hopefully you guys wont have to wait long again.  
****Ok here's Chapter 3 of Lightning in the Dawn. This chap is long, or at least compared to the other chaps its long.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! ANY THING IS FINE! ONE WORD WILL WORK AS WELL! i just want feed back...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I own Hikari my oc.**

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Chapter 3

Hikari P.O.V.

If there is one thing I hate its being the damsel in distress. Not only did I use my _Reverse the Light technique_, but I ended up getting hurt. Plus, this cute looking boy is caring me on his back to Merlin's house. And I don't, wait a minute; did I just mentally say this boy was cute? Bad Hikari! No thinking like that!

"Where now?" I tensed at the sound of Riku's voice. He seemed quiet and reserved, but he wasn't some weakling. I mean, he has been sprinting with me on his back for some time and his breathing hasn't even faltered.

"Just turn the corner and you'll see a brown wooded door with steps leading up to it. That's where you want to be." This whole day, no, my whole LIFE has been bizarre. I knew about Heartless. Creatures created from hearts that are taken over by darkness. They would chase after hearts in their never ending lust for the beating sound made by pulsating blood.

Those strange pink human-like creatures are what I think Merlin referred to as Nobodies. Their movements are like a demented human, the way Dusks would move. But why haven't those Nobodies ever appeared before? They were something totally new to this town, or so I thought.

"We're here." Riku took me in the small cottage like home.

Right when you walk in, Cid's fancy computer with all its monitor sounds welcomes you. The remainder of the room is cluttered with spell books, scrolls, hidden furniture, and a few chalk boards. The center of the room is inhabited by a low stage with a few stairs to help you to the top. How I hated being away from this place.

"Ah, home! Ouch, ugh, stupid wound. Oh, you can put me on the bed." Riku gently set me down on a small green bed. Where were Merlin and the Committee? They're probably busy like we were, fighting Nobodies and Heartless. That's all we ever do actually.

"Where's Merlin?"

"He's probably out practicing spells on a few Heartless or Nobodies with the others." I said it as if it were an obvious answer. But, I forgot, this boy wasn't from here. "Where was he from?"

"Some place far from here."

"Huh?"

"You asked me where I was from…"

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" A small chuckle escaped Riku's lips. Before I knew it, my mouth was acting on its own. Was I nervous or something?

"How did you get here? Why were you on the ground? Did you get in a fight or something? Oh and you didn't even know where you were! How the…why come to a place you don't know? If it were meeee…" I dragged out the last word till it disappeared into an uncomfortable silence. I'm such an idiot, Ranting like that, what's with me? Thank Kingdom Hearts I was able to stop myself.

Riku P.O.V.

After her flow of questions ended, I thought twice about answering her. I didn't even know the answer to some of these questions.

This bothered me. I need to know where my friends are. Plus I don't even know if the Castle is safe. Hopefully this Merlin guy can help me, or at least clear this haze that's surrounding my mind.

I was so deep in thought I forgot that I wasn't alone.

This girl's

"Oh, umm, sorry. I can't really answer those questions."

POOF! Suddenly I a swirling mass of clouds appeared and out of them came an old man with a long gray beard, and a blue robe. Merlin?

"Merlin!" Hikari's face looked like a little kid that had just been reunited with her parents.

"Hello Hikari, what happened to you? You're a mess?"

"Well I was out on patrol and found this Riku guy. Then those freaking treacherous lecherous creatures came. Oh and Nobodies came too, but I had never seen these before."

"Ah, so Riku is here?" Merlin looked confused. "Where are Sora and Kairi?"

"The last time I was with them was when I was at Disney Castle. The Cornerstone of Light's power was diminishing, and the inhabitants of the castle were only being protected by the dim light the Cornerstone produced. But when Sora, Kairi, and I tried to go near it, it began to glow a bright light and I ended up here. Plus the King went missing too."

"Oh my, that is strange. Why would the King leave without any notice?"

"I don't know. Sora told me about you, I was hoping you could help me. Maybe have an answer for some of my questions?"

"Whoa! Wait!" I turned around towards where Hikari was sitting on the bed. "Are you talking about Sora the Keyblade master?"

"How do you...?"

"Leon and the others told me a little about him. He's the Keyblade master that's kind of goofy, and has a good heart. He was always helping others and looking for his friends..." I watched Hikari as she paused, finally putting the pieces together. "YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE FRIENDS! Oh it's all starting to come together now. So you know Merlin through Sora. Ha-ha I'm less confused now!"

"Hikari, calm yourself."

"Yes sir, Merlin sir."

"Well my boy, I think I might know why the Cornerstone was failing. You see, the Cornerstone uses pure light energy to ward of the darkness contained inside the Heartless and Nobodies bodies. And those fellas in the black hoods,"

"Organization XIII."

"Yes, the Organization was leading and manipulating the Heartless and Nobodies into doing their biting, which was to collect hearts for Kingdom Hearts. Now that the Organization is destroyed and Kingdom Hearts is under a state of reconstruction, the Heartless and Nobodies have only one goal, to obtain leadership once more."

"But they're brainless scum. How can they understand the concept of leadership? It would be the same as understanding the concept of being lost?" Hikari was completely into Merlin's explanation. Me on the other hand, I was still confused.

"That I cannot truly answer. Perhaps Heartless and Nobodies do retain some common sense, but the main thing here is that they are seeking new leadership."

"But the only way to find new leadership is to create another Nobody. This means that they have to find someone with a strong heart, and if the heart is a failure then the a mere Heartless and Nobody is created. Which means their swarm just increases in number. Either way, they get something they need." The fog was beginning to clear in my mind. But why was the Cornerstone being attacked, and why did I end up here?

"Exactly, because the Cornerstone is such a strong light force the Nobodies and Heartless sought to capture its 'heart' in hopes to form a new leader. They may be seeking new leadership, but they're still not that bright, now are they?"

"So the Cornerstone is just going to keep getting attacked? Well we can't just sit here. We have to help…"

"Calm down sonny!" I stopped, but in confusion. Did he not care about the Castle? Was he trying to stop me?

"I think the Cornerstone is safe for now."

"Why do you think the Cornerstone is safe? When I saw it, its light was almost gray, and the light it did produce barely lit up the room." I was on edge now. I only knew this man because of Sora, so I trusted him somewhat. But I was beginning to second guess that decision. If he prevented me from helping the castle then, I don't what I would do. But he can't stop me.

"Hey, would you quick being so edgy?" I almost forgot that there was a third party in the room.

"Merlin knows his stuff. He's not some lazy wizard who doesn't care about others." The girls

"My boy, do you not realize Sora's power as Keyblade master? His heart, his light, is so strong to the point where it is as almost as pure as the Cornerstone's light. Once the Cornerstone sensed Sora's power, it simply used Sora as fuel. But because the power within Sora must be transferred by the Keyblade, unpredictable side effects will happen to any Keyblade wielder nearby. In this case, you and Kairi."

"Umm, now I'm confused again. If all this Cornerstone thingy needed was a little recharge from Sora, then why didn't the King you're both talking about just tell Sora before things got bad?"

This girl actually made a reasonable question: Where was the King?

"Well, I don't believe the King would just run away."

"But why do you think that? I mean Kings can be two-timers! I would know."

"Mickey would never do that to his people! He's done more than you know to help Sora save this world. And if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have…" I stopped myself here. I didn't want to recollect about my past mistakes. I didn't want that lonesome darkness to cringe my every thought with negative emotions. Never again would I look into _that _life.

"Ok, I'm sorry", she hung her head low and clenched her hands into fists "it's just that my world was devoured and lost because our _king _abandoned us in our time of need." The poison in Hikari's words was reciprocated in her eyes. I was well acquainted with emotions of hurt, anger, and most of all, the never ending thirst for revenge.

Ugh! What's with this girl? Every time she talks I remember my past. Thankfully Merlin was here to interrupt my reminiscing.

"I'm sure the King, and the others will turn up shortly. For now, I think you should stay here Riku. We could use another fighter to help rid this town of Heartless and Nobodies."

"Ha, can you even fight? I bet I can beat ya." I turned to look at the girl. She had let her hair down and was messaging her scalp, while Merlin went over to her and casted a Cure spell on her wounds. Her wounds were instantly healed. It reminded me of Sora's magic. Sora…Kairi…Mickey…where are they?

"Hey mister silver head! What's the matter? Afraid a girl's going to beat ya?" I broke out of my thoughts.

"Are you sure you want to fight me?" I sounded, well, cocky, but that's my attitude. If I second guess myself then I'll never survive.

The response I got from her was just a smirk and a nod.

I didn't want to fight her, but I was extremely interested in her fighting technique. Plus, with my friends missing, I needed all the practicing I could get in order to go search for them. Merlin said they would turn up, but I had a feeling that I needed to search for them myself.

"I can take ya! Besides if we both get beat up then Merlin will just fix us? Right old ma… I mean Merlin?"

"Hmm well I suppose, but don't go killing each other. In fact no magic! It's bad enough that you had to completely drain yourself when you fought those Nobodies. Just go easy on her Riku."

"Hey! What do you mean go easy on me?" It seemed like I was watching a father pick on his daughter, a relationship I wasn't really familiar with.

"Sure thing sir." I turned to the girl. "I accept, umm…" Damn, I just realized that I forgot this girl's name. I scurried down the alphabet trying to remember what her name was.

"Wow. You already forgot my name? And didn't Merlin say my name out loud in front of you? Geez. Well I'm only gunna tell you it one more time." She stood up with a jolt, making Merlin give her an aggravated look. She leaned in close to my face, her eyes locking with mine.

"Hikari" With that she swept her body away from mine and gestured me to follow her. Unconsciously I obeyed. Her stare, her eyes. A storm of gray. Something was off about them, they reminded me of something, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

* * *

Hikari and I entered this secret room that was hidden in the roof of Merlin's house. It must have been disguised using magic because you could never tell from the outside that there was a whole other room in the small attic of this tiny cottage like house.

We drew our blades simultaneously. Mine gloomed in the shadows of darkness, while hers shimmered from the gold reflected light.

She showed no hesitation in being the first to strike, which is surprising among most swordsmen. I parried her attack with a simple block, but the intensity in each of her later strikes never staggered. She was strong, I'll give her that.

Hikari P.O.V.

I initiated the first strike. Normally, this would either confuse or intimidate my opponent, thus granting my way to a victory. But this guy was blocking my attacks like no big deal. His movements were fast and abrupt. I would strike, thinking I had him wide open, and then he would parry my attack by forcefully lifting his blade.

He handled his weapon like it was a part of him. He was able to jump, turn, run, and even roll while holding the blade in one hand. Maybe his blade was lighter than it seemed? My blade was light as well, but that would only last if I could concentrate enough magic into the golden weapon. Otherwise I hand too wield my weapon with two hands.

"Haaa!" I leaped into the air, spinning my body as I created more momentum for the next attack. My hair whipped around me, creating a mass of lightning stands in a blanket of blackness.

I was sure I was going to finally have a successful strike. But when I landed, Riku was already on the other side of the room. He was amazingly fast.

I stood slowly, my muscles twitching from the sudden stop of movement. This boy wasn't just some rag tag fighter. He had an outstanding number of combos that I either just barely dodged or parried. Plus, his confidence showed in every strike. He never just half-assed it. When he struck, I felt power.

I was striking my usual fighting pose: I stood sideways with my stronger leg in front. My blade was held over my head, the jagged tip pointing at my opponent. I rested my back arm a top my head, trying to regain some strength.

"You're…really…good." I could hardly breathe, my words coming out as harsh whispers because of the lack of oxygen.

"You're not so bad yourself." He sported a similar battle stance: his blade was being held at an angle, above his head, with the tip being directed at me. The hand not holding his Keyblade was stretched forward bent some at the angle. It seemed as if it was taunting me with its curled fingers.

"Just be grateful that Merlin said no magic, or else this would be a different battle." My lungs still stung from when I went into an overdrive fighting mode, but my speech was now even.

"You said you were the best fighter, not the best wizard in the city." If you had supper sonic hearing then you would have heard my self control snap. I'm not a wizard, but I do use magic to control my blade, just so I don't get fatigued as fast. I hated when people made the confusion. Damn him.

"I'm not a wizard" my words were drenched in acid as they slid out of my mouth between gritted teeth, "I use magic to relieve my muscles."

Before I knew it we were only a few feet from each other, I shot quickly towards him, thrusting the flat of my blade towards my opponent's chest. But Riku blocked the blade with lightning quick speed. If it weren't for his oddly silver colored hair, I would have completely lost him in the strike. Our blades remained in a stalemate. Our muscles buckled from the opposing force.

We swung our blades in retaliation, pushing us to opposite poles of the room. Riku quickly sprung forward, unleashing a series of quick, spinning slashes. I blocked his attacks, while trying to gain more ground, but I didn't notice how close I was to being pushed into the wall.

While fighting, a smirk crept onto Riku's face. What was he so happy about? Then I realized that my back was completely against the wall. His blade was just inched from my chest, his shadow towered over me. Did I just…? No.

"I…I lost…" I didn't know what to do, what to say. How did I even feel? I had my first loss to this silver haired teenage boy who had just rescued me only just hours before. I'm not supposed to loose, not me!

"You skills are impressive; there aren't many people who have been able to keep up with my fighting."

"I don't need sympathy. I lost, don't try and sugar coat it." I had never really felt the pain of failure before. I had always been the best in fighting, or at least that's what I thought. Losing, it brought back so many bad memories. Memories I didn't want to remember. I then became a crestfallen looser.

"I wouldn't give you my sympathy. What good will that do?"

I snapped up at the sudden statement. What the hell? The jerk wins and now he's rubbing it in my face. I almost didn't let him continue, but his face wasn't menacing, it was calm and comforting.

"If sympathy saved, then this world would be completely different. If losing hurts you so much, then don't lament. Just find what you're truly striving for and reach for it."

I looked up at Riku. It hit me then that this guy wasn't just some dude who knew how to fight. He was a survivor. His eyes, oddly enough, didn't have the courage and confidence he held within his Keyblade. They looked almost, sad? Lost? Alone? Could he have a past worse than mine?

He out stretched his hand, I gesture I wasn't too comfortable with. Could I trust this hand? Will it help me up, or push me even further into my secret despair?

With hesitant sweaty palms, I outreached my swelled lanky hand. His hand was big and enveloped my like a protective glove. Surprisingly, I didn't feel forced, this moment was comfortable.

"Umm, thanks. Really. I'm sorry I snapped, it's just" I pause to find the correct wording "I don't take loosing well. I guess I was convinced that loosing meant weakness. But thanks."

Riku blew a short puff of air out threw his nose. "Don't worry about it. Loosing just means that your human. You can't win all battles. Plus this wasn't a _real _fight. If we were allowed magic, I'm sure you would have held out longer. But I still would've won, off course."

"Hump. Next time, no rules. Full out, magic permitted battle! And I won't be losing this time. Got it?"

We laughed together for a short while. This felt kind of nice. I liked having a good laugh.

I was so comfortable that I hadn't noticed that Riku was still holding my hand. Oh how awkward was this? Quickly realizing what I was staring at, Riku dropped my hand and stood straight up.

"Uhh, sorry." He put his hands behind his neck nervously. Was that a blush I just saw?

I didn't have time to see for sure because he was already heading for the magical piece of flooring that would take us down to the main living room.

"Hey. You coming Hikari?" The tone of my name coming from his mouth sounded, how did it sound? Nice? Calming? Welcoming?

Ugh! Why am I feeling this way? What is this…this…warmth?

Riku P.O.V.

"Hey. You coming Hikari?" Her name. It sounded as if she were like an old time friend, could it be that it's because it similar to Kairi? That's probably it.

The remembrance of my friends, again, brought that sudden gloom upon me. I know I have to find them. I know that I can't stay here.

"I'm coming. Geez."

We exited the hidden magic room and entered the main living room. I saw that there were some strangers here.

"Oh, you guys are late? Were there a lot of goons out tonight?" Hikari walked in front of me. I was more comfortable with just blending into a wall.

"There was a lot more today than we've ever had!" I very eccentric ninja girl began telling Hikari the fights in full detail.

"And you must be Riku." A man addressed me. He wore a jacket with a fur collar, brown hair, and had an "X" shaped scar on his face. He would have been intimidating, if I hadn't been exposed to far worse personas.

"Yah."

"Merlin told me how you got here. And Sora was always mentioning you before. Finally we get to meet this oh so important friend." I had to smile at that. Sora had never given up on me, even when I had given up on myself.

"I'll get straight to the point. There have been an increasing number of Heartless and Nobodies around. But we're after the leading Heartless, and we need another fighter."

"Leading Heartless?"

"They're more dangerous and mindful. Unfortunately, our forces aren't enough. But Merlin tells me that you're a good enough fighter. So we need your help."

More Heartless and Nobodies. I thought Sora had finally ended this, but of course we don't get our well deserved vacation.

"Sure." I decided to help them. But once this leader Heartless was slain, I'm gone. I need to find out where my friends went, plus I need to find Mickey.

* * *

For the rest of the evening, I was introduced by Hikari, exchanged names, some basic information was shared, and I guess you could say I made some new friends. I didn't know an awkward guy like me could do that, but it happened.

Each of them perfectly matched Sora and Kairi's description. Eccentric but tough Yuffie, outwardly cold but helpful Leon, calming and sweet Aerith, and sarcastic and witty Cid.

The only one Sora didn't even mention was Hikari. I wonder when she joined. Why was she here? Where did she come from? Whoa snap out of it Riku. What do you care? She'll be out of your life soon, no use building a friendship that's going to topple over.

My interest sparked when Cid began talking about Gummi Ships. This is when I finally found a way to get out of here. Cid apparently had some reject Gummi Ships that he either didn't put enough weapons on, or the color made the ship look like "a tin can".

I listened to every word he had to say about his ships. I asked about controls, weapons, structures, speed, everything. This was my ticket to finding my friends.

My sudden interest and contribution to conversations about Cid's ships was mostly unnoticed. Except by a certain black and lightning haired fighter.

It had gotten really late. It was like a small party with these people. Everyone ate together, some rather interesting stories were shared, and the personalities of my temporary teammates were fully presented.

But Hikari grabbed my interest mostly. Everyone was eccentric, including her, but when stories of Heartless came up, her face turned saddened. She hated these creatures, but with a stronger passion than most. I wonder why?

"_Yawn_ Well guys, I'm think I'm gunna hit the hay! See ya tomorrow!" Each member followed suit after Yuffie.

Everyone left, until it was just me and Hikari.

It was silent. But not uncomfortable, it was calming almost. "Well I guess I'll go see what that room Merlin promised me looks like." I got up and made my way to some magically hidden rooms.

"You're not going to stay are you?" I stopped dead in my tracks.

"What?" Why was she asking this? Could she read my mind? Did she already know I was planning on leaving?

"What do you…?"

"Oh shut it, judging from the way you talk and think you've been through a lot. You don't seem like the kind of person who would just wait around for something to happen."

She was dead on. Was I really that readable?

"Plus, you became oddly interested in ships all of the sudden."

I turned fully around. She was at an extremely slim fold up table by Cid's computer, just staring at me. Damn, she had found me out.

"Ok. So what. Are you going to tell the Committee? Because I'm not changing my mind."

"No. I'm not telling them. That is if you can do something." She gestured for me to come to the table. I sat across from her, preparing myself for some outrageous favor.

Then she leaned in close, readying herself for a whisper. I tensed. My face was extremely close to hers. I could feel her breath on my skin. But her face lingered in front of mine for only a second, and then her whole visage presented itself to the side of my head. She opened her mouth to speak, her words brushed against my ear, sending a shivering sensation throughout my whole body. But her words surprised the hell out of me.

"Take me with you."

* * *

**OK...so what do you think? Sorry if it was too long, but maybe if you REVIEWED i can improove my story some more. (hint hint) :D**

**Shout outs to:  
Shadows-Dancing-in-the-Hall  
DanceErikaDance  
Catalyna Cullen**

**Thanks! Keep Reviewing please!**

**Hope you're enjoying it! Chap 4 coming up!**

**********P.S.: i feel like such an idiot. I misspelled LIGHTNING in the title of my freaken story! Thats a high school education for you right there. Go ahead and laugh at me, i know im an epic fail when it comes to spelling. Ok now that my title is correct i will continue!**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Ok sorry i havent updated in forever. but here's chapter 4! Yaaaaay! :D  
****Thanks those who review! (even though its the same three people) but i still appreciate it! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.**

* * *

Riku P.O.V.

"Take me with you." What the...? I wasn't expecting that.

"Excuse me?"

"If you're really planning on leaving, take me with you. I want to get out of here for my own reasons, why should you get to leave?"

Great, I can't just leave with this girl. I really only know her name, why would she desperately want to come with me? This is going to be my journey, and I need to embark on it alone. Time to lie.

I release the most believable fake laugh I can, "Ha you actually believed me?"

Hikari looked at me like I was a demented fool. Was I coming off as crazy? I have to make this more believable. I made myself more serious, "I wasn't going to leave. I don't even know where to go. I only became interested in Cid's ships because flying…fascinates me." Well that wasn't a complete lie. I do enjoy the feeling of floating in the air; it helped me escape from my once horrible life.

"So you were just playing me like a fool huh?" Her tone was, well, I don't know how to describe it. It was one of those tones where you can never tell if the speaker is being serious or sarcastic.

Next thing I know she abruptly gets up from the table, marches over to the hidden rooms, and turns in for the night.

"Phew." I almost got caught. As long as I can make this Hikari girl either believe me or resent me then I'm sure leaving this place will pose no problem.

_But you promised to help…_

That's something Sora would say, so reliable. That's a trait my DNA probably could never bear to house, but I can't give up on my friends. If I'm getting this much attention from Heartless and Nobodies then I can't imagine how much trouble Sora, Kairi, and Mickey have got themselves into. My heart doesn't shine as bright as theirs.

"As soon as I find that Heartless, I'm gone." With my plan set I turn in for the night.

* * *

Hikari P.O.V.

_Darkness. An element I could preach about. The one thing I know most about, my eternal pursuer. That's what I find myself in now. Only lovely swirls of shadows walk along side me._

_Then my parents appear before me. They're wearing my home land's typical attire. But something's different. They are emitting a light so bright that I have to shield my eyes for the fear of blindness._

"_Hikari, where are you?" My mother sounds panicked; I can see the fear in her gunmetal storm like eyes._

"_Mom! Dad! I'm right here!" My mom's continues to yell. Can she not hear me?_

" _Don't move, I'm coming!" I sprint with everything I have, but it feels as if my feet never touch the ground. My parents move away with every worthless step I take._

"_Hikari! Hikari!" My dad's voice this time. Its hoarse and manly screech is unbearable. I don't want to listen to his suffering. Especially if I'm the cause._

"_Dad! Mom!" I run but I never reach them. I see two pink hearts float above their now doll like bodies._

"_MOM! DAD!" I scream bloody murder but their bodies just lie there, then they slowly disappear like grains of sand in the wind. They're gone._

"_Mom…Dad!" I feel like I've gotten shot. A thousands knife wounds can't amount to this pain. Then I feel a soothing wetness on my breasts. _

_I look at my chest and see a crimson river flow out of my heart. I fall to the ground because the pain has numbed my body. My legs loose all their feeling, and then my entire body goes numb._

"_Mom…Dad…" My voice is barely even a whisper. I feel no pain, but I know my heart has been ripped open. I'm lying on my back; my muscles are mush clay now. Then I see my own pink glittering heart float above my face. I can't help but smile._

"_So pretty, so…pretty." I repeat over and over again. I lie in eternal darkness with only long gloomy shadows to accompany me as they wisp past the hole in my chest._

"_Don't go…" I want to reach out and grab the fluttering gem in my lifeless hand. But I can no longer see through the darkness. I'm lost forever…_

I shoot up in my bed. "Damn, that same dream again." It was my parents who disappeared this time. I've been having this same sort of dream ever since my world was destroyed by darkness. Everyone I've known and loved has appeared in my dreams once or twice. And it always ends the same way. With my own heart disappearing.

"Ugh, I need something to drink." I shake the dream off. I've gotten used to this. I remember when I would wake up screaming and shaking. Merlin or the others would always be there to wake me and comfort me, but I never tell them about my nightmares. Why should I make myself seem like some weak little girl who can't take a few fake images?

But some of these images weren't fake. The floating hearts, the darkness, the blood. I've seen all of these with my own eyes. I just choose to forget them, its better this way.

I shiver either due to the fact that I'm shaken some by the dream, or that I'm only wearing my favorite torn up black tank top and black shorts in the cold rainy night. Probably the later.

I head out of the magically hidden room. Living with a wizard does pose some advantages; I'm very experienced in the art of magic, even though I'm already an expert with the blade. Curing spells have always come in handy. Without those, I probably would be dead right now.

I step outside to get some fresh air instead of a drink.

"Stupid cold, stupid rain. The weather here is never consistent." A little patrolling around the city will probably do me some good as well.

I walk for about ten minutes away from the cozy cottage house when the first Heartless appear. I tend to forget their 'correct' name a lot. I usually just call them creatures, or demons, or devils. I have some other colorful language for them that would probably make Merlin magically shut my mouth closed for weeks.

"Ooo, some fun." I summon my blade. Its jaggedness and golden color make it unique. I remember when I first received it from my master Zen. He explained that the sword was like my own personal flashlight. It had the ability to harvest light energy and produce catastrophic light fueled attacks. Now, I've mastered every move dealt with light attacks. This sword was definitely my past, present, and future.

"Let's play." I didn't bother using my swords abilities against these weaklings. Brute force was more than enough.

_One, two, three. One, two, three. _I repeated the chant as if I was keeping the beat for a waltz. It was my twisted way of meditation. Every count of three I would jerk in another direction stabbing an unfortunate demon in the heart.

"You guys messed with me on the wrong morning. I didn't get my beauty rest." By the time my 'dance' practice was over the sun was barely just reaching the horizon. I guess I had gone out pretty early.

I headed back to Merlin's. I considered the place my home, but that's just it, it isn't my home. My home was gone.

"Ugh! I can't get depressed this early in the day. I have to stay positive." I put on a smile, but it felt forced. I finally gave up and settled with an emotionless expression.

I entered Merlin's house a few minuteS after the sun had just risen. Surprisingly everyone was awake. Or you could call it that. Everyone seemed to be using the skinny fold up table Cid made as a prop to keep their faces from hitting the floor. Lazies.

"Don't worry guys. I'm back now, no need to be depressed."

"Ha ha." Yuffie said dryly before flashing me her signature smile. The ninja was always cheerful. Just like Aerith. Leon, well…he wasn't mean I guess. He just wasn't cheery.

"Where were you Hikari?" Merlin appeared from the other side of the room along with Cid. He was floating several books around his head. He was truly a book worm.

"I was feeling, umm, tense. So I decided to have myself a little workout."

I looked around the room. All were accounted for except Riku.

I was still questioning this Riku guy's motives. I was sure he wanted to leave, but he insisted that he was just interested in ships. I thought that my request would shake him up but he's a good liar.

I recalled last night's discussion with Riku. My question.

Riku hadn't really said no, but he didn't say yes. If someone were to leave this place to go to other struggling worlds then I wanted in. This city was nice, but I want to defeat every single Heartless Kingdom Hearts has to throw at me. It's my secret that only I and my sword know. My grudge against the evil creatures will never die. Not after what had happened.

"Next be more careful. You know that the number of Heartless and Nobodies has been increasing." Merlin was shaking his finger at me as he replaced his current floating books with others.

"Yeah, yeah." I secretly searched for the silver head teen by scanning the entire room. Where was he?

"Umm. Looks like some one's missing?" I absently looked at the front door, expecting to see the silver teen walk right in just as I acknowledged him.

"He went out shortly after we all woke up." Leon said in his monotone man voice.

"Oh he did now?" I tried to sound uninterested. I guess I was still thinking of last night.

If Riku had up right and said he was leaving would he really let me tag along? Probably not. I'm only good for fighting, not companionship.

"Actually, I showed him where the Gummi Ship hangers were. That fella seems interested in them ships. He asked if he could learn how to fly one." I turned to Cid, who was now at his computer busily typing gibberish that only a computer nerd could understand.

"Oh ok, whatever." I knew he was lying! He wants to leave and he's using his 'interest in flying' as an excuse to leave. What a little…

"Hikari"

"Huh?"

"Today we're going to try and find that strong Heartless." My thoughts were interrupted by Leon's sudden plan for the day.

"Today? Sweet. I finally get to fight some big game. What do you know about it?"

"Nothing yet. The last sighting was at the Postern, but it could be moving now. So were going to check the whole area there today."

Merlin and the Committee were only able to collect a few facts about this "super" Heartless. It was supposedly big, very allusive, and it seems to appear before fast amounts of Heartless appear. One more strange fact is that all sightings were recorded during a down pour. So confusing.

"Finally. I've been waiting for that sucker to finally be destroyed. Now's our chance!" I pump my fist into the air with enthusiasm. If there's one thing I like it's fighting. But what I live for is to kill Heartless.

The sight of their hearts floating above their disappearing bodies brings a feeling I can only describe as content.

Is that too wicked? Oh well...

Riku P.O.V.

Cid's hanger was full of what I anticipated: junk Gummi Ships with flaws and malfunctions. Luckily there was one ship that caught my attention at the hanger.

The ship was in decent shape and required little to no repairs. Cid explained the controls to me and I absorbed the information like a sponge. Now all I needed was an opportunity.

The only thing keeping me here now is the promise I made to the Committee.

I've been lying on Merlin's roof for some time now. I stared at the sky, knowing somewhere my friends are out there.

The sky is still dark and threatening from last night's rain. From the look of it, it's probably going to rain hard today.

"Will that make our search harder?" Leon told me that we had a lead on that strong Heartless he told me about. That was the only thing stopping me. I said that I could help and I will. That's what my friends would want me to do, help those in need.

"So the roles have been switched." Sora once spent around a year looking for his betraying best friend. He never gave up. Now it's my turn, I have to search for my friends. But first, I have to help these residents before I can leave with a sound mind.

I see lightning in the distance. A blinding flash radiates the sky for only a second. The clouds have gotten darker and more menacing. It would probably be best if I got off the roof.

* * *

"Alright, so are we all ready?" Leon was leading the scouting team out to some place called the Postern.

"Yes damnit! Can we go already? I've been waiting for this for forever now!" Hikari was eager. She must love fighting if she's willing to just walk out into the newly formed storm outside to find some Heartless.

"Hikari, mind your tongue." Merlin was pointing his long wrinkly finger at Hikari's face.

"Sorry. I'm just so pumped! I don't even care that it's raining!" That's when I realized that Hikari wasn't really dressed for rain. She wore the same torn and ragged green vest, with black shorts, and a black tank top. She would look like an idiot out in the rain, but then again did she care?

"Alright. Let's go!" Leon, Yuffie, Hikari, and I all headed for the Postern. We obviously were the most experienced fighters out of the whole Committee. I felt kind of cocky knowing that I was the best fighter in the bunch. I remember all the times Sora challenged me. I don't think he's ever won...

The rain was fierce. If it weren't for Hikari's glowing blade, I probably would have been separated from the group just minutes after leaving Merlin's house.

We reached the Postern but it was vacant. Only the rain and lightning were there to accompany us. Immediately I know that something's wrong. In my life, a peaceful moment like this is usually followed by misery.

"Let's split into two, if you find the Heartless just use magic to signal the other party." How lucky, I somehow get paired with Hikari. The only one who has suspicions about me.

"Ok let's try and snag this thing." Hikari marched into the opposite direction of Leon and Yuffie.

We trailed along a winding path where we found a very similar scene.

"Hey, isn't this where we met?" Hikari was almost yelling now, since the rain was pelting the ground with force.

"Yeah. It is." I had to yell too. Lightning lit the sky again, making Hikari's appearance more visible. She was soaked. A weird and unfamiliar feeling emitted in the pit of my stomach when I saw Hikari soaked.

Hikari wasn't an ugly sight. In fact she was kind of, umm, pretty. Her hair reminds me of how the sky looks now. A darkened sky lit by a streak of yellow lightning. So unusual, but beautiful. And her strangely familiar gunmetal gray eyes. They may be a deep gray color, but they have some life to them. But what did they remind me of?

"I think we should go back to the Postern and regroup. It doesn't look like the Heartless is here." Her yell was barely audible because a huge ground shaking thunder erupted from the heavens.

"Whoa, this storm is getting bad!" I had to yell even louder now that the rain had picked up speed.

The roar of the thunder continued as we walked out of the crystal like path. I was hoping I could talk to Hikari; just to make sure she doesn't suspect anything more about my departure plans. But the thunder's roar was picking up intensity.

It took me a while to realize that the deafening noise wasn't thunder.

"Is that _roaring_?" Hikari yelled into my direction as she held her sword to a defensive stance.

I answered with the nod of my head. I think our search has just ended. All we need to do is follow the "thunder".

Hikari and I ran fast back to the Postern; the direction of the "thunder" sound. Every minute that passed seemed to increase the roaring's volume.

We reached the Postern only to find Leon and Yuffie badly injured.

"Yuffie! Leon!" Hikari runs over to Leon and Yuffie and immediately begins casting a cure spell over their bodies.

"I think they're just unconscious. We have to get them out of the rain." I slung one of Leon's arms over my shoulder. Considering Hikari would probably buckle from the weight of the young man.

We took them to some underground corridors found under the oddly shaped orange tower located in the Postern.

"They should be fine here. We've managed to finally secure this area with some of Cid's programs. What the hell happened to you guys?" Hikari was casting cure nonstop on the two unconscious Committee members.

"Hikari, they'll be fine. They just need to recover from whatever caused this." But what did cause this?

All the sudden the walls of the building seemed to shake. A huge monstrous roar erupted from outside. That was definitely not the rain.

"..." Hikari and I didn't say anything. We swiftly positioned the injured bodies of Leon and Yuffie carefully along a corridor wall.

We stepped out of the corridors, preparing ourselves for the worst.

* * *

Hikari P.O.V.

We exited the corridors as quiet as we could. I'm glad this Riku guy knows how to fight. Most people would be freaking out right now and blow our secrecy. But I can tell this kind of scenario has happened in Riku's life.

We scaled the wall that leads to the top floor of the Postern. Its orange metal framework creates billions of _pinging _noises as the rain hits it with intense force.

Riku poked his head over the wall we're scaling. He slowly recoils his head back down to my level, but his face is full of…surprise? Fear? Confusion?

I scale the wall to where I'm right next to Riku. There's something up there, and it must be big because Riku hasn't moved since he peeked over the wall.

"What did you…?" I tried to talk as quietly as I could but I guess it was still too loud. Riku clasps his hand over my mouth. Before I can retaliate, a huge murderous roar erupts from the Postern's main flooring. Whatever's up there sounds huge, mean, and ready to kill.

With his hand still over my mouth he carefully slides me over to where he was standing that way I can witness what we're about to fight.

I peek over the ledge cautiously. At first I see nothing; the showers pouring down from the skies are so thick that I'm surprised Riku could see anything.

Lightning strikes the sky and I take in the most horrendous, gigantic, mutated looking creature I've ever seen. I wouldn't even say it was a Heartless if it weren't for the mark all those creatures sport, placed firmly on the creatures crest.

Its body was pure black, like rubber or leather. The actual torso of the animal was that of some jungle cat. Its leg muscles penetrated the skin of the animal, creating pulsating bands that wrapped around each ankle up to the thigh.

The tail was of the same color as the body, but without the visible pulsating muscles. It was long and snake like, and unraveled into a multitude of dagger like forked tongues.

The strong broad neck connected to a spherical shaped head. The mane of the creature looked like smoke. Purple fumes radiated from the neck of the creature and disappeared into the sky.

The head looked skeletal. There were no ears, or nose, or any resemblance of facial hair. The eyes were the typical golden yellow all Heartless posses. But they seemed bigger and more penetrating than any Heartless I've seen. The weirdest thing about this Heartless was that it seemed to be smirking. Rows of pointed teeth locked together to form a curved grin.

Then it turned to face me. Holy shit!

I ducked my head down and pressed my body against the wall, hands out like a bird. I looked at Riku who was standing up straight with weapon in hand. He was just staring at where the creature was standing.

I rid myself of any apprehension. This fight is going to be good. Really good.

Riku began to head back to the corridors. Once we entered the corridors it took a while for my eyes to fully adjust back to such bright florescent lights. Leon and Yuffie were still unconscious. They would be safe in here, but what about me and Riku.

I turned the silver head teen.

"You ready for this?"

He paused for a moment, was he reconsidering? Did it scare him that much?

He turned to me; his pale blue orbs held their own unique dull shine. He summoned his Keyblade and held it out for inspection.

"Ha, you think you're up to it?"

"Hell yeah I am!" With that we left Leon and Yuffie to recoup as we battle the one mega Heartless we've been searching for.

* * *

Riku P.O.V.

This thing was putting up a good fight. First me and Hikari tried to take down each of the creatures legs to try and paralyze its movements, but that plan failed as soon as its feet erupted with the same strange fumes that formed its mane.

We tried attacking the back, the blind spot, but apparently its tail doesn't look like knives for no reason.

The underside and the back are untouchable, so now were attacking the only option left. The head.

Its roars weren't just violent, but they seemed to act as a summoning for lesser Heartless. Just perfect for two lone fighters.

The rain had subsided but was still hard enough to where it was difficult to see. "Riku! Watch out!"

_BOOM! _I barely escape being turned into a pancake when the creature decides to resort to a stomping technique to get rid of us.

"Damn, this thing's too big." I slash upward just before the Heartless begins to crash down another leg atop of me. It lets out a sheik and rears up in the air.

Hikari takes the chance to swing her blade left to right, right to left, then up and down. A series of horizontal and vertical bands of light come forth from her blade and strike the Heartless straight in the chest. Perfect aim and incredible power.

_Clash! Clash! Clash! _The creature stands straight up now. It's nearly three times as big, but the Heatless emblem acts as a wide open target.

"Hikari! Aim for the mark on its chest!" I run towards the creature full of adrenaline. I ignore the weak and smaller Heartless as they cut and grab my skin. I reach the legs of the creature and begin scaling the body.

"Haaa!" I slam as hard as I can into the Heartless' chest. I strike at every angle possible while I'm in the air.

I whip my Keyblade over my head "Take this!" I stab my Keyblade right into the center of the Monster's chest. I drop down to the ground with no weapon in hand.

"Damn it, it didn't work." I was hopping my blade would emit its dark energy and overtake the beast, but it's still resisting.

I ignore the rising pain in my left arm. I already know it's bleeding, but that's the least of my worries right now.

"Are you alright? Ah, your arm it's…" Hikari's face wasn't panicked, but I could tell she was becoming fatigued just like me.

"It's fine." I lied through the pain. The blood will stop eventually, but this monster won't. Only the Realm of Darkness can house this gigantic beast.

"Where's your Keyblade?"

"Inside the Heartless' chest. I'll just call it back."

I reached out my opened hand to summon my Keyblade. It returned back into my palm with a flash of light. It showed no signs of battle, almost like its rejuvenated every time I call for it.

"Riku…your hand." Hikari caressed my bleeding hand with in her own. Damn. I was struck hard with the creature's tails when I shoved Hikari out of the way earlier. I didn't know I was this hurt until I felt the blood on my arm.

"It's fine. We just need to stop that creature. And quickly." Hikari looked almost sad.

"What? Ugh…" Pain

"You're hurt. We can't fight like this! We need to…"

"I'm fine. Believe me. I've been through worse." All of the sudden the pain numbed for a while. Then returned less severe than it was. She had casted a cure spell on me.

"You need to save your magic."

"Shut up. I won't leave a comrade injured when I have the power to help them. Just take it easy."

By now the creature seemed to have lost interest in us and was moving towards a large canyon that surrounded the reconstructed orange tower.

"I was sure that technique would work."

"What? When you smashed your Keyblade into the things chest? If only you had a longer weapon."

"Or stronger arms." I strangely remembered Hikari's earlier light technique where streaks of powerful light struck the Heartless with intense power.

"Wait. That's it Hikari!"

"Huh? What's it?"

"If I can lodge my Keyblade back into the creatures chest, do you think you could do that attack you did earlier?" An almost relieved looking smile appeared on Hikari's face.

"You're pretty smart when you're injured aren't you?"

"Ha." This plan will hopefully work.

"Let's kill this sucker." Hikari helped me onto my feet, and we sprinted as fast as we could towards the demented creature.

We battled hard again trying to make the Heartless rear up onto its hind legs like it did before, but no such luck.

Before we weren't tired or injured, but now my wounds have opened up again and the pain has returned again, slightly stronger.

"Damn it!" Hikari scraped the earth with her blade while running full speed toward the gigantic Heartless. Sparks flew in every direction and the jagged sword left a line of light where the grooves of the rock should have been.

It lifted its foot and was about to stomp hard when Hikari did a backwards flip while flicking her blade up, bringing a stream of light, dirt, and rocks up from the ground.

They arced in an angle which hit perfectly under the foot of the Heartless.

"Yes! Perfect Hikari." I watched as the Heartless reared back on its hind legs. The bottoms of its feet were the sweet spots, but that's not where the final kill could be made.

I performed the same stunt as I did before and logged my Keyblade into the chest of this monster.

Once I land I yell to Hikari "Hikari, NOW!"

With that, Hikari does a very graceful summer salt by jumping off the knee of the Heartless and positions herself in front of the chest.

"Ha! Ha! Haaa!" She yelled with every light producing slash. Every single one struck my blade. Perfect aim.

It would have gone smoothly if the Heartless hadn't made one last attempt at our lives.

Before slamming to the ground and disappearing forever into darkness, the monster let out a howling scream. A variety of mixed ranked Heartless appeared out of the shadows of the disappearing Heartless corpse.

"Riku…we…still…have…to…fight." Hikari was panting hard, and a trickle of blood could be seen running down her cheek to her neck.

"Yeah." She looked worn down, but I don't blame her. I was definitely hurt but Hikari had taken some nasty hits as well. "Just go check on Leon and Yuffie. I'll go."

"Hell…no." She gripped the back of my vest with all her strength, which wasn't much right now. "If you fight…" She inhaled a long steady breath, "…then I'm definitely fighting!"

She was determined to stay with me. This brought forth a foreign comforting feeling. Very few people have chosen to stay be my side, with good reasons. Yet again this girl makes me think about the past. But do I like it…

"Alright. Just don't lag behind."

"Ha! I never lag. " She gave me the thumbs up before summoning her blade and jumping into a mass of Heartless.

"Crazy."

I don't remember the last time I fought like this. I can only remember the time when Sora and I fought side by side against Xemnas. This time, it's me and Hikari.

* * *

Hikari P.O.V.

The fight wouldn't have been as difficult as it was, but I was so beat up. My head was killing me and my magic was severely depleted due to the multiple high leveled magic attacks I performed earlier.

Plus, Riku didn't look so hot either. His left arm and hand were bleeding profusely. And his stance showed a lot of strain on his right leg.

The fight ended. It strained every screaming muscle in my body, but thankfully it's over now.

"Are you alright?" I saw that Riku was using his Keyblade as a crutch as he crouched down on his right knee.

"Yeah. I just need some rest, and I'll be fine." He got up to walk but his face portrayed great pain.

"Here, let me help you. You're more injured than me." I situated Riku's left arm over my shoulders. It helped that I was shorter than him by only a few inches. Perfect height for a human crutch.

"But you're injured too…"

"Well both my legs work and I've stopped bleeding. So just let me help you." That seemed to shut him up. About time he accepts my help.

The journey back up to the Postern was both tiresome and very awkward. I mean I'm helping this, well, good looking boy and our bodies are basically rubbing against each other with every step.

My heart begins to thump as I realize how muscular Riku's arms are. Ugh! Why am I thinking these things? We just got into one heck of a fight. Maybe I was hit on my head too hard?

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I answer almost too quickly. Luckily I found an opening to end this dreaded silence.

"You're a really good fighter. And, well, your idea was brilliant so, umm, thanks." Why am I blushing! Stop it cheeks!

"No problem. You know, I've been in a situation like this before."

"Really? What do you mean? You've fought a giant Heartless before?"

"Me and Sora, we…we fought together side by side, and in the end, Sora had to help me walk because I was injured. Coincidence?"

"Yeah. Almost the same scenario."

"So do you consider us friends then?" What? That question caught me off guard.

"Umm, I, umm…what?" Riku starts to laugh hard. What? I got nervous, so I stuttered then I forgot the question. Sue me.

"Your face!" More laughter. Geez, was I that funny looking? "Well I consider you my friend. If that's alright with you, Hikari."

I couldn't help but smile. This guy was different; I felt a connection to him rather than a divide. Call it some cheesy emotion, but I could sense some sincerity and kindness in his heart. Bleh, emotional crap like that hurts my head. Or maybe it's actually my injury that hurts.

"Oww." Thinking about my head reminded me that I'm not exactly a hundred percent right now.

"Are you ok?" Riku starts to push himself off me "I can walk now…"

"No! No…I'm fine. I just thought about my head so my body remembered that I was injured. Just keep me distracted and I'll be fine."

We continued up to the Postern in the rain. The rain hadn't really subsided, but the clouds began to show some signs of clearing. It was still too dark to determine the time. I wonder how long we've been fighting.

We reached the Postern and the first thing I do is collapse. After settling Riku against a wall first.

"I'M SO TIRED!" Some of my words were muffled, since my jaw refused to open to its fullest.

"Ugh, go check on Leon and Yuffie. I'll wait here for now." Riku looked pretty bad. And the wound on the side of his body didn't look like it was letting up. The blood was still coming out slowly. At this rate, if he doesn't receive medical treatment then he'll need more than just a cure spell.

"Just hold tight. I'm going to get you some help." My head began to throb as I forced my weakened body off the ground and into the corridors of the Postern building.

"Hikari!"

"Yuffie! Leon! You guys are alright!" My joy came out as a hoarse voice because I was beginning to lose consciousness. But I can't pass out, that's just being weak.

"Hikari…your head. What happened? Where's Riku?" Yuffie kept asking questions but I couldn't register them. I have to snap out of it.

"Yuffie, Leon…Riku and I…we need help. We're…hurt." I couldn't see any more. My world was black, but I forced my brain to remain alert. This was enough to keep me standing, or should I say leaning. By now, Leon had to support my weight as he carried me outside.

"Put me down…you're…you're injured." My eyes were closed but I could tell I was being carried.

"We were knocked out, not bled to death. You need emergency help, now!"

After that comment I can only remember three things.

One, Yuffie was carring on her back now.

Two, Riku had already passed out and was being carried on Leon's back.

And three, I lost consciousness for the first time in my whole life.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

**Keep reviewing! Unfortunately this chap is sort of a filler but its necessary for the story to move on...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts T_T**

* * *

Chapter 5

Hiakri P.O.V.

_My dream started just as all the others do. I'm alone in the dark and gruesome jail made only to keep the lowest of the most despicable creatures; Oblivion._

_Swirling masses of shadows stop my movements, preparing me to witness yet another lost loved one die. But it never comes._

_I remain alone. Blood never floods my vision and numbness never relieves my body of the intense pain I always experience._

"_There's…no…pain?" I turn my head to every angle to make sure I'm really alone. Only shadows whisk by my ankles. They remind me of a cat trying to snuggle itself against you for attention, right before it tries to claw your heart out._

_I listen intently for any other sign of life. This dream, it's almost too real. It's as if I'm reliving my past. Or worse, I was just asleep and have finally woken up to this tragic reality._

_This can't be reality; my whole body looks as if it's transparent, like a ghoul of some sort. What is this?_

_Suddenly I bright light shines so fierce that it becomes almost impossible to leave my eyes open, but I fight it. I never imagined such a scene could part take in this place. Evil has definitely made this place its asylum, so why is there such a beautiful force emanating from its depts._

_I try walking towards it, longing to feel its obvious warmth. But my legs don't move. I remain dangling in the air, hovering like some worthless doll. Damn it…_

_Wait…my voice. I open my mouth to curse, but I'm all of the sudden a mute. This has to be the strangest dream…at least; I think it's a dream._

_The light begins to recede and I watch intently expecting to see some horrible creature come and devour my soul. But I can only make out two figures. One is an extremely short fellow with humongous ears, while the other is taller with…silver hair? Riku? What in the name of Kingdom Hearts is he doing here? In my dream of all things?_

_If my body wasn't frozen, then I would probably be sprinting to save my friend. I don't want him to die in my dream, especially since I know he's still alive in reality._

_The large eared man, I'm assuming he's male, takes out a Keyblade. Even in the darkness of Oblivion his blade shines the most brilliant of glimmers. Truly a beautiful and exiting weapon to have the privilege of wielding._

_Just as the magnificent light came, it fades away. It started as a column of light and began disappearing like a snake slithering back into its eerie hole. To bad, that light almost made me feel happy for the first time in months._

_The large eared Keyblade wielder and Riku, walk away together. The dream begins to dissolve into nothing. Signaling I'm about to wake, but I don't want to leave this dream. This is the first dream where I haven't suffered, and I want to know why I'm having it._

_That light. Just looking at it I could feel such a remarkable and benevolent pleasure that overwhelmed my senses. It was just too real; this couldn't have been a dream this has to be happening now. How I wished this was happening!_

_The dream completely deludes into a mixture of colors. The Keyblade's shine is the last thing I'm able to make out._

My eyes slowly open to soothing sound of a weak wind blowing through my tattered brown curtains. That dream was, umm, new? I've been having the same dream over and over again since _that _time, but that dream was…weird. Why would I dream about a midget sized man with huge mouse ears and Riku, of all people? It's probably because I got hit to many times on the head from that damn Heartless and while in my unconscious state, my dreams went insane. Light in Oblivion? That's just impossible, plus there's no way Riku could have been in that horrible place, it's all too memorable darkness is something no one else should ever bear except for me.

I halt all thoughts of the dream. It's making me think of depressing times and I don't really want to make myself feel suicidal. I survived a hard fought battle, and the worst that happened to me was that I passed out.

I must have been carried here by Leon and Yuffie. I can only remember fighting that giant Heartless along side Riku, Riku got hurt, and then we both passed out from our injuries.

I try to sit up, which was a huge mistake. "Oh, fuck!" My head decides to react to my pitiful attempt of rising by creating sharp shooting pains that make me want to pull my hair out. That would probably only make it worse though.

"Holy crap, this hurts!" I decide to just lie in bed with my arm over my eyes. I don't need to see my body to know I'm covered in gauze and bandages. As the pain begins to subside from my head, I gain better control over my senses.

The semi-thick dark fabric of my tank top and shorts rests on my body, heavy enough to help push every patch of medical wrapping closer to my skin for easier vigilance.

I feel the roughness of tightly wrapped gauze over my black and yellow streaked hair. A variety of different sized bandages cover my arms and legs. I can feel some sort of wrapping, probably more gauze, around my mid section.

I try turning my head to each side, while still resting on my lumpy pillow. Luckily, my head doesn't react in pain, so I turn my head to observe the whole room.

It's obviously my hidden room in Merlin's house. I'm the only room with curtains, and a window large enough to fit a body through. There's nothing on the walls except the leftover stone and building materials from the reconstruction sight near the Bailey. The only furniture in my room is a bed, a small night stand, and a bookshelf filled with Spell Books dealing with 'light' magic.

"Ugh, I feel like shit…" My voice sounds strained, but that's probably due to the exhaustion from the recent battle.

That battle was, well, it was a very memorable experience. I've never seriously fought along side any one before. Come to think of it, even when I would go out with the Committee to go destroy some Heartless, I would always fight in a separate area from the others. I tried to fight _with _them once, but it only felt as if they were getting in the way. That's how it's always been with me though. I never liked fighting as a team, it was just too bothersome.

But Riku, if I remember correctly, was a brilliant fighter to cooperate with. I was always aware of his presence, yet I never had to worry about him getting in the cross fires between me and a creature. His fighting style was, very impressive. His movements ranged from quick jolting slashes to slow and powerful stabs. His body retained the ability to strike an enemy multiple times while airborne, and he never faltered. He always kept a balance, and if he was knocked down, he regained his poise within seconds of the impact made and would retaliate without any hesitation.

That day he beat me, I honestly thought it was because I was getting sick, or he somehow cheated. But I know now that's not the case. He's definitely on my level of fighting, but I refuse to say he's better than me. He hasn't battled my full potential with the use of magic. So until then, we're equal in terms of skill with the blade and magic.

I let my body fully awaken for a few more minutes before I try to sit up again. Just like before, it's a pathetic attempt.

"Damn it! My head…" I slowly bring my hands to my head, gently rubbing the rough gauze to help relieve my pain. The touch of my hand only results in my head hurting more.

"Ow, mother…"

"There's no need to be so vulgar Hikari." I turn my head a little too quickly to the person at my door; now my head is in agony.

"Oh man, Aerith. My head feels like shit!" I presume that Aerith was the one who healed me. She's on par with Merlin's ability in recovery spells, so naturally Aerith does most of the healing. I wouldn't doubt that she healed Riku too. I wonder what his condition is.

Aerith moved my arm from over my eyes to place a cold wash cloth over my fore head. A cool sensation begins to runs all the way up to my scalp.

"I've dipped this cloth in a mixture of potions and elixirs. Your pain should disappear shortly, and it will also lesson the soreness."

"Aerith, have I ever told you're the best and that you deserve some kind of holy healer award?" Immediately, true to Aerith's word, the pain in my head resides and my whole body feels more energized than it was prior to the cloth placed on my forehead. Thank Kingdom Hearts for Aerith.

"Just make sure you rest well or my healing won't take any effect on your body."

"Yeah, yeah." Usually when I'm injured, I ignore whatever pain I may have and just do as I please. Being experienced in the field of magic, I would just cast cure on my ailments then continue my fighting. But this is one of the worst conditions I've been in after a fight, so Aerith's suggestion can be easily followed.

Aerith walked around the bed to place a pitcher of water and an empty glass on the night stand next to my bed. The light form the window shines on the glass of the pitcher, creating a spectrum of colors over the ceiling. It reminds me of that light in my dream. Ugh, that dream; it's going to drive me insane! Where most of my dreams would cause me to harbor bitterness and sorrow, but this dream gave me a sense of hope. The weirdest thing was that Riku and some stranger were the ones in my dream. Why would I dream about them?

"Oh, umm, Aerith…"

"Hmm?"

"Umm, how's Riku? I mean he was in pretty bad shape and all. So I'm just wondering if he's doing alright. Cause the fight was pretty bad, and he was hurt really…badly." Is it just me or do I sound like an idiot?

"Yes. He's recovering right now. His injuries were worse than yours but he responded to the potions I created very well. He should be waking up soon." Aerith calm and soothing voice brings relief to my body. Secretly I was terrified of the injuries Riku received. There was so much blood, and I freaked out. I pushed my body to its limits to make sure he would make it. Thankfully my attempts were not in vain.

"That's good. He did take some nasty hits from that Heartless. I'm glad he's alright."

Aerith comes over to my side and sits carefully on the bed. She just stares at me with her girlish face. I start to feel a little uncomfortable.

"Umm, Aerith, why are you staring at me?"

"It's just; your concern for Riku is very…nice."

"Oh, umm, thanks." An uncomfortable and embarrassing feeling began emanating from my gut. It was true; I was extremely concerned for Riku. The blood was, well, it just got my adrenaline going to the point where I passed out. I didn't want one of those creatures to take another life. No Heartless will be left standing in my presence.

"How's the town? Did that Heartless do a lot of damage?" My heart skips a beat as I remember the destruction a swarm of Heartless can produce on a town.

"The town has actually been very peaceful. Leon and Merlin believe that that Heartless was the cause of the increase in monsters."

"Really?" Now that I think about it, that Heartless had the ability to call forth other lesser Heartless with its roars.

"Yes, Heartless seemed to have almost completely disappeared form the town. But there are still an increasing amount of Nobodies." Aerith's face remains calm and enlightened as she informs me of the town's current condition in full detail.

_Clunk. Clunk. _"Aerith? Are you in there with Hikari?" Merlin's strained old voice interrupts our discussion. He sounds almost panicked, which immediately puts me on edge.

"I'm in here Merlin."

"…"

"Merlin?" Aerith and my face are struck with confusion.

"Old man, are you alright?"

"Can you…open…the door? Please?" Merlin's speech is a mixture of huffs and whines. What is with that wizard?

Aerith opens the door to a red faced Merlin carrying a large tray with a variety of fruits, breads, and juices. I understand now that he was pleading for us to open the door for him.

"Merlin! Why are you carrying so much food? I could've helped." Aerith swiftly takes about half of the mouth watering items of the tray on places them carefully on the bed.

"I know that Hikari and Riku would have been hungry when they woke up so I got Cid to prepare some breakfast for them. Since Cid left with Leon and I didn't want to impose on you and Aerith so I decided to take the tray myself, not knowing it was this heavy." With that being said in one breath, Merlin takes a huge intake of air as Aerith relieves him of some food items.

"Why didn't you just use magic?"

"Hikari my dear, don't you know that magic will spoil the taste of food! How would you like your eggs to taste like lightning or fire? Everyone knows that!"

I struggle to fixate myself comfortably against the wooden slate of the bed's headboard. Merlin carefully rests about half of the plates he had been carrying on the bed and nightstand. The rest is probably for Riku.

"Do you need help eating?" I know Aerith is just trying to be nice, but I find her comment extremely aggravating and annoying. I'm stronger than the typical girl, I'm a survivor, and I'll be damned if anyone is ever to doubt this about me. Aerith's kind nature just forces her to ask others if they are in need of assistance. I don't even have to respond for Aerith to know to just leave me be.

The window takes on a new form as it begins to become covered with glistening drops of rain. The newly started rain gives me an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. Unfortunately, our little predicament between that monstrous Heartless most likely won't be our last.

Riku P.O.V.

I've been awake for what seems like an hour now, but I can't make my muscles move. All the energy in my body has been drained, and the only functioning muscle left is my heart and lungs.

I recognize the wooden slate pattern of the ceiling to be my room in Merlin's house. There a faint smell of rain and…fruit?

"Oh you're awake."

"Hmm," I turn my head carefully, almost as if my bones might shatter like glass "Merlin?"

"How are you doing sonny? You gave us quite a scare when Leon brought you here after your battle."

"Oh. I'm fine." Actually my whole body feels as if it's about to burst but the left side of my body is the part that's protruding the most pain right now.

"No need to lie, Riku. I saw your wounds. Even with two experienced healers such as me and Aerith, we couldn't have possibly rid you of all your pain?" He just simply smiled at me while setting various plates of food on the bed to my side.

"Are you hungry?" I've never really been in a situation like this before. It's almost embarrassing to have people you barely know care for you. The only people who have seen me severely hurt have been Mickey and Sora. To everyone else, I'm invincible or emotionless. If that's how it's always been, then why is it bothering me now?

"Aerith should be coming in a little while to treat your wounds." Merlin pulled out a tray form thin air. I decide not to ask how he did that. "So in the mean time, I'll keep you company!"

I have to hand it to the wizard. Looking at him reminds you of some relic that should be handled with care. His personality however, is that of a youthful adult.

"So Riku, I have to ask you" If I could I would have looked the old man in the eyes, but I'm too exhausted that I don't even have the urge to eat "What do you think of Hikari's fighting? Impressed?"

Hikari's fighting? Remembering last night, I was baffled by her fighting skills. Her combination of swordsmanship and magic was something I had never perceived before. Every blow was planned out and executed to the point where she could probably hit her target from miles away. Accuracy and power, those two words have to be the most fitting for her fighting style.

Then there's the actual magic she uses; light. I've experienced extreme forces with the use of darkness, but her 'light' attacks were…amazing. I simple flick of the wrist and she managed to rocket hundred pound rocks from the ground. I completely underestimated her when I beat her. I obviously have yet to see her full power.

"Well?" The old wizard dragged out his speech in order to get a quick response.

"She was very, skilled."

"Skilled?" Merlin paused as if he was inspecting my answer for errors. "Yes she is quite skilled now isn't she?"

It could have been just me but Merlin's face looked a little too surprised by my answer. Did he doubt that girl's power? If so, then he obviously has failed to actually watch her fight.

"Merlin? Is he…" I very girlishly dressed girl appears at the door to my room. I believe her name was Aerith. "Oh, good. Now both of you are awake."

Her smile has a sort of relieved softness to it that reminds me of Kairi. She was always there to scold me and Sora when ever we got hurt, but she was always relieved when we would insist that we were not as hurt as she thought.

All the more reason why I cannot stay in this world forever; I need to see those faces in person.

Aerith inspected my many fresh and throbbing wounds. I couldn't feel the sheets being dragged off of me, but I could feel the alluring coldness of the rainy weather in the room. Chills were sent through my whole body as my face and bare chest were exposed to the cold. I always loved the cold. It calmed me. My senses would be on high alert from the stinging sensation of the coolness. Then they would be turned into ice as my body became numbed. When I'm numb, all the hurt goes away and when I regain my feeling my body seems refreshed.

When she removed the bundle of gauze from my body my eyes stung at the sight. My body was in horrible shape. The lesser of the injuries were just scratches and bruises that a fighter is all too familiar with. My left side is what disturbed me. The gauze was almost pinned to my body as the dried up blood form the fresh wound acted as cement binding to my skin. The wound was a large curving arch, created my the slashing motion of that Heartless' many tails. I remember taking multiple hits there, some hits were meant for Hikari but my body acted on instinct to protect another's life. So in the end, I received a double amount of hurt.

"Riku, I could heal this right now. But," She hesitated and then looked at Merlin for guidance. "But, umm."

"It will hurt you pretty bad." A look of pain and anguish covered Merlin's visage. "We've had to do this many times before. Aerith and I combine our magic to create a stronger cure. But it will very painful during the spell for your body. The sudden healing may be too much. But the choice is yours. You can heal it now or wait for your wounds to naturally heal. That will take a few weeks however, so we wanted to provide you with this alternative."

"…" If I wait for my wounds to heal naturally then there would be no problem with that. I've been hurt before and recovery is something I'm used to. But then there's the variable of time. If I want to find my friends and Mickey then I need to leave as soon as possible. My friends are more important than anything, even my own well being.

"I don't think I want to wait for my wounds to heal. I'd like to be healed now."

"If that's what you truly want." Merlin stood up next to Aerith and motioned for her to start the healing process.

"Are you sure, Riku?" I just nod my head. This wizard is to smart for me and my words will be easily decoded. He'll know my reluctance from just one word from my mouth; and I can't have that. Time is short, and my friends need me some where.

"Ok. Just relax and stay calm. It will hurt for a while but once we're done you should immediately feel better.

I lie on my back anticipating the worst of pains. I only focus on thoughts of my friends and hope that the cool air of town will numb my body for good.

_One day later…_

My bones were aching form the strain of the task given to me. I've never felt so much pressure in what I was about to do. If I were to fail then that would probably mean death by beheading.

"Riku! You better not freaking screw up!"

"Ha. I don't screw up."

"Well then hurry up and help me out!"

Who knew rearranging spell books would be this stressful.

After Hikari and I were healed we quickly regained our strength and stamina. The treatment I had received yesterday was extremely painful, but I that pain was just a memory now. I can't complain, since I'm almost one-hundred percent again.

Merlin thought it would be great physical therapy to rearrange his thousands of spell books. Looking at the room you would only think the wizard owned a couple hundred books, but his magic tricks the eyes. Plus, Hikari seems to be obsessed with the neatness and organization of the living room.

"I don't see why you're so overworked by some spell books?"

"I'm not over worked! I've just been taught that neatness is a must in a warrior's life. If you become disorganized in your everyday life then you become disorganized with the blade."

"Maybe that only occurs to you…"

"What's that supposed to mean."

"Well, I've never been 'neat' and yet I still beat you." If looks could kill then Hikari would be a convicted felon. The hate in her eyes couldn't have been fiercer, but I enjoy teasing people. I would always pick on Sora. Picking on Hikari wasn't that much different; in fact it was even more enjoyable. Sora would always retaliate with a challenge or words of wisdom, but Hikari just takes action and plays at my own game. It's quite amusing in a way; to bad this will be me last chance to talk to her like this since I'm initiating my plan tonight.

_Thunk! _"Ow. What the…" I picked up Hikari's chosen projectile 'weapon' "You threw a book at me?"

"Oops, I'm sorry. I thought I saw this big ugly cockroach in the room but I forgot that bugs don't have silver hair." She seemed satisfied with herself when she turned her head to another tower of spell books. The slightest smirk was creeping onto her lips. I guess she enjoys the teasing as much as I do.

Hikari P.O.V.

"So, who taught you about that connection between your everyday life and your combat skills?"

My heart skipped a beat at his question. Even though I've been staying in this town since _that _time, the topic of my old home had never really come up. Merlin tried to bring it up in front of the others but I was to emotionally twisted that my only answer was a blank stare into nothingness. I remember that I cried that whole night; it took me a while to realize that no matter how many tears I shed or how horrible I feel my world was gone for good. But do I have enough courage to voice this out loud?

"Hikari?"

"Huh? Oh, umm, sorry. My old master taught me everything I know."

"Old master huh? He must have been really good."

"Why say that?"

"Well I've only seen your true fighting skills once and I'm impressed. I've never seen magic used like that in battle."

"Oh, umm, thanks." I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. He actually complimented me? The boy who's been a smart ass to me since I found him lying on the ground? That's probably why my stomach feels like doing summersaults…

Since this morning Merlin has been providing me and Riku with "physically therapy" tasks. I would like to think of them as chores, but I guess I can't complain. I would rather heal quickly and continue fighting rather than fighting now and screwing up my body any more than it is now.

The sun was beginning to set, making the sky shine a brilliant orange. It was remarkably similar to my world. The sun would set and its golden rays would reflect off of each house. The whole town would appear as gold. It was so beautiful that one might cry by just looking at it.

I quickly rubbed my eyes of any liquid. I can't believe I'm crying over the sun set. Such an embarrassing thing to do and I almost did it in front of Riku.

Hopefully he didn't see me. What must have I looked like? Some princess waiting for her night to come riding through the shining rays of hope from the sun…

Gag! I would never be so dependent, especially to some high class stuck up man. Gross…

When the Committee came back from their 'hunt' we all gathered in a huge heap of hungry teens.

The news was that the Heartless seemed almost inexistent in the town. With this, me and Riku received hoards of praise from the other Committee members. Apparently that giant Heartless was the cause of the increasing number of monsters in the town. Its roars acted as an S.O.S. signal to weaker leveled Heartless. The thunder from storms acted as a cover up for the creatures sheiks. I guess that deformed thing did have a brain after all.

I liked the praise form others as much as any other person, but I'm itching to fight again. It's only been barely one day since my blade has gotten some fresh air, but one hour is too long for me. I live to kill those creatures. But if what the Committee says is true then there will no longer be a need to fight Heartless. They've almost disappeared completely.

The whole night I tried desperately to find some flaw in the Committee's status of the town, but its final; the Heartless are almost obliterated from this town. I should be ecstatic. This is what I've been fighting for but why do I feel so hopeless?

"Riku, did you and Sora ever have to fight Heartless on your island?" Yuffie's mouth was full of Cid's homemade stew so her question was a bit…messy.

"Well, not really. Sora did most of his fighting in other worlds and…"

"What!" Everyone turned to me at my sudden out burst. "Oh, umm, other worlds you say? There are Heartless on other worlds like this one?" I almost felt excited at this information. If they're other Heartless out there then that means my services are still needed! I can still help others with the infestation problem!

"There are a lot of unfortunate worlds out there. Some have even been destroyed because of the Heartless." My heart stung with the information Riku was providing. I knew all to well of what happens to a world shrouded in darkness.

The rest of the evening was felt like bonding time between large families. Cid's stories about his 'glory days' were hilarious. Merlin amused us at some point by performing some ancient form of magic. Yuffie showed of her new ninja stars by impressively striking a fly sitting on the wall. Aerith just laughed cheerfully along with every one, while Leon just smirked every now and then.

I on the other hand was taking in the whole scene; since this will be the last time I'm going to be seeing these guys. My last impression of them has to be a cheerful one.

Riku P.O.V.

I waited until the darkness of night could shield me from any eye. My footsteps were light and swift, just as Mickey had taught me.

Cid's hanger was easy to break into. The security was not as alert due to the depleted number of Heartless. Only Nobodies roamed the town, but their existence was begging to fade as well.

Although it was pitch black, I made sure to memorize my way to the designated Gummy Ship I was going to use. The ship was a plain black and red cruiser with two missile launchers and one laser. The only major thing that prevented Cid from using this ship was that every other ship in the hanger was more fitting for battle with numerous lasers and guns. But I could work with this…

To my surprise, the ship door was already unlocked.

"Huh?" I became on high alert. Even if the Heartless were disappearing, Cid doesn't seem like the kind of guy to just leave his valuables unsecured.

I enter the ship as swift as I can. Once I close the door the inside of the ship comes to life. Bright lights illuminate the sea of buttons on the control panel. The ship, being that its one of the smaller ships, only has two passenger chairs.

I make haste towards the chair obviously designated to be for the driver. I punch press each button to start the ship in the order Cid instructed me on.

The ship springs to life and the hanger door opens to star lit sky. Suddenly the ship lurches into the air and burst of fire project form the four small rockets at the rear of the ship. Once out Radiant Garden's boundaries the built in navigation system pops up.

The words _Designation Desired _flash on the large screen near the wheel. I punch in my answer and the ship makes a sharp turn to the left before blasting away from my previous location.

I figured my up coming journey would be easier if I received some more information about what I'm getting myself into. I can't ask Sora or Kairi, and Mickey is missing as well. So I'm hoping Queen Minnie should have some information as to where her husband might have gone.

Hopefully Disney Castle isn't in ruins.

* * *

**OK...Im extremely sorry for the uber late update! School was having no mercy on me and my lap top crapped out on me making me loose all of my story material. Plus, this chap was almost done then the lap top decides to delete everything i had worked on! ...**

**But now school is over! My lap top is in 'surgery' and i've managed to get passed this chap! For some reason it was rather difficult to start and i didn't want to start it with a dream but that's where the story was taking me soooo deal with it! jkjk :)**

**So what cha think? This chap was just a filler...since there was no fighting (i know! it boring!) ...but believe me lots more action coming your way! Plus fighting scenes are extremely fun to write so im looking foward to it!**

**Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**oK y'all. Heres another chap to the story Lightning in the Dawn. I hope you like it. **

**As always thankyou everybody who reviewed! Your comments really help and i take every word into consideration!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but i own my oc Hikari and my plot :D**

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Chapter 6

Riku P.O.V.

The drive through the lonely nebula was fairly calm. There would be a fleet of Heartless every now and then, but they weren't my biggest concern. My biggest enemy had to be the asteroids.

Large jagged edged rocks would come blasting at my Gummi Ship with deadly force. I haven't been hit yet, but that's out of pure luck.

The controls for the ship were annoyingly designed for two. While my seat housed all navigation controls and the built in navigation system, the other seat faced various switches and buttons used for the ships offensive weapons. So while I was traveling alone, weapons were unusable.

The weapon controls were reachable; it's just hard to look for the correct _fire _button when Heartless or asteroids are threatening to split the ship in two.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. _The navigation system was picking up something; Disney Castle.

"Finally!" I exclaimed with much released anxiety. The world looked peaceful enough. The castle manifested itself among hundreds of tiny red roofed houses with plush green lawns and forests.

The multiple blue steeples with small red flags perched at on each point was the castle's top view. The castle looked invincible to attack, but I knew that those walls had already been breached.

I landed the ship with great ease, but I remained wary. I didn't know how many Heartless were here, or if there were any Heartless left at all. The town's people could still be suffering in the basement with the Cornerstone. Perhaps Merlin was right and the Cornerstone had regained its strength with the help of the Keyblade master.

"Only one way to find out…" I opened the Gummi Ship door with my blade already in hand. I wasn't so stupid as to fail in battle due to an ambush, so my blade would always be out.

I already knew the castle was still in trouble. The gears and levers within the Gummi Ship hanger were always moving and clanking together, but today the hanger was still. The only sound came from my foot steps; every step echoed through the hanger.

I made my way out to the courtyard. Again, silence welcomed me into the grassy pasture. The large and intricately trimmed models of the highly regarded castle residents were now torn and ragged. Branches flooded every foot placement. Vines and leaves draped over any exit of the once lovely and clean courtyard. I had never seen this place so messed up; but the sight of it just made me sick.

Now I was convinced; the Castle was still in danger. Or worse, the danger had already passed and this was the outcome. Either way, every Heartless and Nobody that enters this place will return to the pitiful home of theirs; The Realm of Darkness.

I staggered over protruding branches and large hedges. The courtyard wasn't that huge, but it required that you make a full circle around its surroundings in order to find the entrance into the castle.

But my escape wouldn't be as easy as opening a door. Of course Heartless and Nobodies have to appear. It's in their nature to show up at the worst possible moments. But my rage was building. This Castle was cherished by my friends, and the last thing I want is it to break down into rubble.

Dozens of Shadows, Soldiers, and Minute Bomb Heartless advanced to make their attack. I summoned my Keyblade, readying my body to destroy every single one of them.

"Bastards." I didn't have time to play with these jokes. I swung my Keyblade in a perfect arc in front of me, sending a stream of dark coursing magic upon the weak and pathetic Heartless. Several were destroyed on the spot. Others had dodged the attack by jumping on a disfigured hedge or retreating into darkness.

Then I felt I sudden slash on my back. Dusks, and there were a lot of them. Their swiveling motions were difficult to hit. Plus their rubber like arms acted like whips whenever I was hit.

I was caught in the middle of a Heartless and Nobody attack…just perfect.

I locked on a far away Dusk within a mob of surrounding Nobodies. I lunged at the swaying creature, letting my Keyblade pull me towards its dark aura. I collided with the Nobody, instantly destroying it on the spot, while striking several other Nobodies in my path.

"Haaa!" I performed my favorable attacks consisting of spinning motions and quick slices. If I could keep attacking multiple enemies at once then this would be over soon.

I looked at the multitude of Minute Bomb Heartless. That's when the battle changed for my favor.

"Yeah, that's it..." I swiftly evaded each slash thrown at me from any incoming dusk. I parried several attacks, which caused the Dusk to recoil back in slow motion, providing me more time to run.

The Soldiers were more of a help than a threat. They lacked team work and I could use the counter attack Sora had shown me whenever a Soldier was preparing to retaliate with a shower of kicks. I would gracefully glide through the air just as Sora had demonstrated, allowing my Keyblade to seek each Heartless and pierce through its body.

The Shadows were never really a threat, more of an annoyance. I finally made it to the other side of the courtyard that seemed to act as the Minute Bomb Heartless' stronghold. I ran full force towards the swarm of 'bombs'. At the critical moment of advancement, I performed a spinning attack sending waves of dark aura attacks in every direction. I landed crouched on my feet, while using my hand to balance my self.

"Perfect." I looked around to find every Minute Bomb was starting their countdown. They remained immobilized but were deadly if you stood near them when they exploded. I knew I had at least 10 seconds to execute my plan. I used my Keyblade at a club to launch the Minute Bombs toward the threatening wave of Heartless and Nobodies.

The first Minute Bomb flew in the air for what seemed like hours, but landed with a large explosion. The explosion was a spherically orb of energy, about four feet in diameter. Any enemy within its explosion was obliterated instantly.

Seeing that my plan worked, I hastily smacked ever Minute Bomb toward the advancing threat. Explosion after explosion sounded in my ears but I didn't have time to calculate my aim or examine my progress. The last remaining Minute Bomb had only 2 seconds left before detonation. I didn't have time to launch it, so I decided to destroy it.

I threw my Keyblade towards the Heartless' brown coconut like head. The Keyblade slashed through the Heartless with such speed, that the Heartless didn't even dissolve into shadows until my Keyblade had already been summoned back into my hand.

Smoke shrouded over the entire courtyard; I was blind for a moment. I stood up carefully, not knowing if any of my pursuers had survived. There was no sign of a struggle, but you can never be sure with these creatures.

My back and arms stung slightly from the small incisions created by the Dusks' attacks. Other than that I was fine. I wasn't even fatigued yet…

The dust begins to fade, but still remains like a backlit curtain, only allowing the silhouette of forms to be perceived. I can make out five similar figures. Each was holding a large lance with a slanting spike on one side and a semi circle with three protruding spikes on the other side. Their bodies were thin, with two large wings composed of three large spikes. The arms and legs possessed appendages that looked menacingly cruel if ever slashed by them. The chest was large and broad but I knew it was hollow. The head appeared to be that of a serpents'; the mouth contained jagged rows of fangs. Spikes decorated its neck and crest.

I knew immediately I was in trouble. Suddenly a series of blinding lights came at my feet...and blew up.

I flew into the air and crashed into the nearby wall. Luckily my blow was cushioned by the draping foliage, but that was just luck.

These Nobodies were the real deal. I've never fought more than two of these at once, and now I have to fight five.

"Dragoons…" My jaw clenched at the recognition. These were, well _used_ to be, Xaldin's Nobodies. Number III in rank meant that his Nobodies were powerful and skilled with the blade…and there had to be five of them. Damn it.

They specialized in warping. I knew that they could appear out of no ware and just strike me down, and I had to stay on edge.

Suddenly an orb of light appeared at my feet…the warning before their attack. I jumped out of the way just in time as one of the Dragoon Heartless appeared out of thin air and stuck the ground I had just been at with its lance. I had to keep evading their attacks, making it impossible to attack with my own blade.

I skidded to a halt right after dodging the fifth Dragoon's warping attack. I quickly collected myself remembering the trick Mickey had shown me when we first encountered these Nobodies.

Just as another Dragoon was about to pierce me with its lance, I collected all the energy in the surrounding atmosphere created by the space altering attack. I vanished into thin air at the last minute, leaving the Nobody vulnerable as it struggled to release its blade from the ground. Then I gave it a taste of its own medicine. In a flash of light, my body appeared over the Nobody and performed the same stunt it had just done to me, only this time I successfully hit my target. I crashed into the ground, with a jolt of intensity as my blade led my body through the defenseless Nobody. Immediately the creature vanished. One down, four more to go I thought with much confidence.

But my confidence was shattered when two Dragoons decided to tag team me. It was impossible to evade both attacks. Two orbs of light appeared near my feet; I tried dodging the blows but was unsuccessful.

I had been hit. I don't which one did it, but I didn't have time to find out. The left side of my body was still slightly raw from having just recently healed from battle. Now my wound was reopened, and blood began to darken my black zip-up tank-top. Who knew there was a color darker than black.

"Ugh." I grunted from the sting, but I had to ignore the pain.

I was hurt, and the Nobodies were now quickening their attacks. I used my blade to parry as many attacks as I could, but my body was failing on me. I didn't have time to perform the limit Mickey had shown me, my adrenaline was driving my body to survive. Escaping was impossible, plus I'm never the one to run from a challenge, even if it means losing my life.

Another Dragoon prepared its attack, I escaped it's blade but the fury of the lance hitting the ground created a force that threw me to the dirt. Another orb formed near my head, I rolled over just quick enough to prevent my head from being sliced off. Once again, the signal of a Dragoon's attack appeared, this time at my torso. I kicked my legs up in the air, forcing my body to follow suit. My legs acted as a spring, I launched my self forward as soon as my body reached equilibrium. I landed hard, but managed to escape another attack. My wound was pounding violently now.

This whole fight I couldn't get a solid hit in. The most I had done to the remaining four Dragoons was a few worthless and weak body blows. Other than this, the Nobodies were still prepared to fight, while my body was ready to shut down.

I tried to get off the ground but my side finally protested and caused my whole body to become temporarily numb. I was a sitting duck.

The Dragoons sensed this. They all vanished harmoniously, and the most sinister of shiny lights appeared right near my neck. Damn, I guess I'm going to die here.

I kept my eyes open, my body tensed as it waited for the Dragoons to appear over my head. Suddenly time seemed to be moving in slow motion. I saw each Dragoon appear over my head; each of their lances was pointed right at my wind pipe, preparing to slice me open like a piece of meat. I struggled to get up, but my side wound continued to numb my senses. I could only manage to lift my Keyblade a few inches off the ground.

Their wings twitched forward, and they made their decent down to my life. Their coordinated strikes were a beautiful sight. I closed my eyes as I felt the gloom iciness of their lances near my skin. Behind my closed lids I flash of light appeared; then the coolness left. It felt as if their metal weapons never even touched me.

So is this how it's like to be killed by one of those creatures? No pain, no realization that you had just been killed? If I open my eyes what will I see, an angel come to take my heart to its destined rest?

"Riku! Riku, can you get up! Riku!" The angel's voice was that of a young woman's. It contained much alarm but still possessed a beautiful aspect to it. I wonder where she was going to lead me. With my past, I deserve to be thrown into the Realm of Darkness. That's where I belonged.

I felt gentle hands caress my face. The angel's touch, I felt an almost electric shock from the smoothness of her skin. Her long and thin fingers were shaky as they wiped some of my sweat drenched hair from my face. I warm wetness cascaded down from the angel and ran to my temples.

"Riku…" The angel was…crying? Do angels cry whenever they come to take a deceased life to its final resting place?

The angel began to move her hands across my wound, and then I felt something I knew the dead were supposed to escape…pain. I clenched my hands at the sudden agony in my side. I thought all pain left you when you died. I guess I would be forced to suffer forever.

I felt my vest be taken off then my tank-top be zipped down. All the while my eyes finally regained the function to open. I slowly opened my eyes, for fear I would be met with a never ending darkness as my grave, but instead I was met with the sight of dark black hair mixed with streaks of golden yellow strands. There was only one person I knew that had that kind of hair…

"Hikari?" My voice was hoarse, but still at a reasonable level. The once perceived angel shot her head up from my wound and I was met with red, puffy gunmetal gray eyes.

"You idiot…I thought you were…dying." It was Hikari. It was hard to tell through the tears. I didn't know what to do, what to say. I was shocked that Hikari was here, but I was even more shocked by the sight of her crying. I had never thought that tears could manifest themselves in those eyes, and yet here I am with my face dewed with them.

A sudden numbness overcame my body as Hikari's hands began to glow a tantalizing green. Once the light receded, the pain in my side was nearly gone. Only I slight sting occurred on contact to the wound.

Her hands remained on my bare skin, sending chills through my veins. I didn't know if this was the magic's effect, or hers. But why would she have an affect like that on me?

She wiped her face with her tattered vest. She looked pretty shaken up, almost terrified actually. I wanted to tell her it would be alright; that I'm a fast healer, but my confusion over took my sympathy. I only wanted to ask her one thing…

"Hikari…what the hell are you doing here?" I could have put it lighter, but a girl whom I've just recently met was crouched down right above me in a different world besides her own.

She looked down at me with sad eyes. I instantly felt regret, wishing I could recant my harshness and instead comfort her, but suddenly her sadness was quickly replaced by anger.

"I'm here because you just nearly died! You're lucky I made it here in time you idiot!" She was still kneeling at my side, and I had to prop myself up on my elbows to talk to her face to face.

"I understand that! Why are you here at Disney Castle? Shouldn't you be at Radiant Garden still?" I reciprocated her anger with my agitation. I'm grateful that she had just saved me, _really _grateful, but why the hell is she here.

She opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes widened at the sight of something I hadn't seen. In a blinding fast movement she summoned her blade and sliced an oncoming dusk in half. I summoned my blade as well, but I was forcefully kept down on the ground.

"Hikari! Let me get up!" I struggled under the pressure of her hand on my bare chest. She put all her weight into her arm, pinning me to the ground with her fingers out stretched on my torso.

"After I perform this attack, you have to help me get to safer ground." Her eyes burrowed into mine. They showed complete determination and strength. But behind their glossy coat, I could see a faint hint of fear. Was she scared about me, or about what she was about to do?

It felt as if we had been staring at each other for hours, when finally I regained my sense and nodded my head in agreement to her earlier command. I had no doubt she could fight, but what if more Dragoons showed up? Or even something worse? I didn't have time to dwell on my decision…

Hikari quickly jumped up to her feet and ran towards the new developing sea of Heartless and Nobodies. Just as she made contact with the front line of attackers, she vanished. The enemies halted their attacks, clearly confused that their new challenger had just disappeared.

Their attention focused on me and they began their decent towards their newly found target. But this wasn't my fight; Hikari was around here somewhere.

A heavenly orbed glow appeared on the bodies of every single Heartless and Nobody. A blast of bright light erupted from each glow, producing a chorus of sheiks and screeches from each creature. Then Hikari appeared above the suffering attackers. With a force so strong that the whole castle seemed to shake, Hikari struck the ground similar to the way a Dragoon would.

Only this blow destroyed every thing around it. A blinding dome of light erupted from where Hikari struck the ground. The light surrounding each creature vanished right before the dome's light overtook the Heartless and Nobody's forms. Just standing near the attack, I could feel the intensity from Hikari's blade emanating from the deadly blow. It was a truly magnificent yet morbid at the same time.

The light disappeared quickly. It looked like shining shards of glass were retreating into an infinite void. The golden blade sucked all the intensity away, causing the strange metal to glow a furious amber. Hikari was kneeling on one knee, while her clasped hands were resting atop her blade's handle.

"Ok Riku…help me get up." She was extremely fatigued; all her strength was focused on her hands over her blade. Its glow was slowly dimming, but it far from loosing its fire. When I reached her, her blade disappeared and she nearly fell flat on her face; if I hadn't have caught her.

"Hikari!" I positioned her to stand but more Heartless and Nobodies began to form. I had no choice but to make a run to the only safe place I knew in this castle; The Hall of the Cornerstone.

* * *

I ran with all my might while holding Hikari on my back. Surprisingly my wound posed no problem. Hikari couldn't have just performed a simple cure, which means that her magic had been severely drained before she performed that attack.

"Damn it, idiot. You shouldn't have wasted your energy on me." She mumbled something but I couldn't make it out. I was too focused on finding the door that would lead to our temporary salvation.

Finally I was met with the humongous red door I was looking for, but I knew that I still had a long walkway welcoming me behind these doors, and who knows what kind of beings are in there.

I opened the hidden, smaller door withheld within the larger doors wood. I was welcomed by a huge white hall that seemed to have no boundaries. This room could easily hold every resident in the nearby town and anyone living in the castle, but this isn't where I want to be.

I need to reach the throne that was sitting on the far end of the hall. I knew that there was a secret switch which opened a passage to the Cornerstone.

"Riku…" Hikari began to squirm against my back. I let go of her slide off my back and carefully let her stand on her own.

"Can you walk?" I stood close to her in case she fell again. I don't know why, but ever since I saw her cry, I had the strongest urge to protect her.

Hikari P.O.V.

"Can you walk?" He seemed to almost linger over me. As if I'm going to almost fall flat on my face again. But his concern was…strange. I had never really received concern from others, being that I would constantly demonstrate my power. People just figured I could handle everything on my own but…

"Hey, are you sure you're alright?" Geez…was I that pathetic that he couldn't trust me to walk? Oh wait…I forgot to answer him.

"I'm fine. I just needed to regain my strength. Thanks to you, it was fairly easy." I remember how I felt after my attack. It was a move that took great concentration and skill. Otherwise, I could've exploded from the increasing internal energy. My stamina was fine, it was my magic that needed to recoup. My magic was so unstable that one attack by me would absolutely mean death. That's why that move was forbidden on my world, but master still taught it too me. Good thing he didn't like rules.

"So where are we?" I looked around the outrageously large hall. Red flags hung from the top border of the ceiling. A red long carpet stretched from the door all the way to an elegant and expensive looking throne.

"This is the throne room, but we have to get over to the throne to reach the Cornerstone." The hall was quiet. The sound of our haste filled footsteps echoed off the magnificently white walls.

Riku remained with his back towards me as we neared the throne. The silence of the hall was killing me. It wasn't peaceful at all, it was so nerve racking. If those damn things attacked now then I wouldn't be much of a help. I could still sense the burn my blade was causing my unconsciousness to feel. I was still in a deadly state.

I noticed Riku was now running with his Keyblade at hand. The hall was obviously empty, and if that Cornerstone does what Riku claims it does then we should be fine.

Or course, my suspicions are shot down and ran over multiple times. Multitudes of cylinder like Heartless appear throughout the whole hall. Their black spherical heads rest near the bottom of a red sheath body. The Heartless just float in the air and look so harmless. But I know all to well that no Heartless is benign, they all deserve death.

One of the floating Heartless rears up high in the air, and slams its body on the ground sending a large shockwave across the floor.

"Shit." Riku and I manage to dodge the wave, but more Heartless begin to advance us. That's when I realize the amount of Heartless in the room. The infestation was so fast that I couldn't even see the walls.

I summon my blade. The metal has cooled now that my magic has become stable, but I don't think I have it in me to perform another attack like that for today. I take a step towards a twirling Heartless, but I'm halted by Riku firmly grabbing my arm.

"Come on. We don't need to fight them." Riku turns towards the throne but I yank my arm out of his grasp.

"Hell I'm going to run from these shits. They deserve to die." Damn Heartless. As if one world to swallow up wasn't enough.

Riku forcefully drags me closer to the throne platform. "Hey! What are you…?" Before I could finish my sentence, Riku pushes some sort of trigger, under one of the thrones arm rests, which unleashes a huge amount of bright and pure light. When the light vanishes, the whole hall returns to being empty. Not one Heartless remains.

"How the hell did you…?"

"Come on. I don't have time to explain." Riku grabs my hand and leads me down a stair case which was hidden under the throne. The button must have triggered some defense system. I guess the Cornerstone really _is _a big deal.

The stair case seemed almost never ending, but I was focusing on the steps. I was staring at my hand. Riku had failed to let it go and the realization that the opposite sex was actually touching me made my palms sweat.

Then I remembered the way his eyes were when I saved him. Of course, my unexplained command brought confusion into his pale blue orbs, but the fog cleared and I saw what his eyes truly looked like. They were so calming, reminding me of the ocean water at day break.

Then there was the intensity I felt when I lingered into his stare. Like his eyes had seen something he wasn't supposed to see, or something he wished he hadn't.

If Riku hadn't been dragging me behind him I probably would have just stood in one place to organize my thoughts.

Why the hell am I thinking of this annoying silver haired teen's eyes? Stupid brain, I must still be suffering from the drain of magic.

When we finally descend down to what seemed to be a basement; but this basement wasn't filled with antique furniture or broken valuables. It was filled with a variety of nervous and depressed looking people.

"What…what is all this?" The scene brought back painful memories. I let go of Riku's hand to clench my own chest. It was as if I was reliving that day all over again. I turned my gaze past Riku's visage, only to focus on a plain white wall of the room. I couldn't take the scene anymore, it hurt too much.

"Hikari?" Riku looked over the crowd I had just taken in. "Hikari. We'll definitely help them. Come on, we need to find the Queen. She'll help." Normally words weren't enough to lighten my mood, but Riku's words weren't what struck me. His eyes, they were so concerning, so calming; just as they always were to me. They nearly made me forget about why my chest hurt. But why was this? Did he have some power I wasn't aware about?

"Riku!" A cutely dressed mouse appears out of the mob. Her pink dress descended down to the floor. Her golden crown was decorated with a mouse shaped ruby. Everything about her speaks elegance, but I didn't notice this at first. I mean for crying out loud, the Queen is a life size talking mouse? I guess other worlds house different beings besides humans…but a mouse?

"Queen Minnie!" Riku rushes towards the now struggling Queen. She looked extremely fatigued.

"Riku. Oh thank goodness you returned! When you, Sora and Kairi disappeared, I became so worried." The two hugged each other briefly before calming down. "Where are the others?" She questioned Riku while giving me a curious glance.

Riku's face then changed to show his inner turmoil. I had forgotten that the whole reason he left was to search for his friends and the King of this castle.

"…Unfortunately, I became separated from them the moment we disappeared from the castle. I'm going to try and find them, along with Mick…I mean the King."

"Oh please Riku! I haven't heard from Mickey in some time and…I'm worried." This poor woman. I don't even know the full story, but to be separated from your lover in this crazy and messed up world is a pain I can't imagine. This only fueled my determination to save this unfamiliar world.

"Oh. Who are you?" The Queen politely questioned me while advancing toward me with Riku trailing behind her.

"I'm Hikari," I decided to take a respectable bow "Your Highness."

"Oh no need to be so formal. Please, just call me Minnie." Her high pitched squeaky voice was filled with compassion. No wonder she was Queen, she already made me want to live here.

"Minnie. How has the castle been since I've disappeared?" Riku began asking a series of questions concerning the condition of the castle, the residents, and the Cornerstone of Light.

I learned that the Cornerstone was not draining power, but it was being stressed to its limits of protection. The residents were safe, but food and water were becoming scarce. The castle condition was a mystery to the Castle's residents. They haven't left this basement for about a month now.

"So this Cornerstone of Light, protects this castle from darkness, but is not performing to its fullest because there's something big it's preventing from coming near it?"Minnie nodded her head in agreement. Ok…so now I understood a little bit more than I had when I originally got here.

"So if we were to find this strong force, then the Cornerstone should begin to function normally?" Riku was voicing my exact thoughts. If this _force_ was preventing the Cornerstone from performing to its fullest then all we had to do was destroy it. But what exactly is it?

"Yes. The Cornerstone has actually done this before. Many years ago, before this Castle was even built, it was said that a dangerously powerful Heartless came to destroy the Cornerstone so the nearby citizens' hearts could be captured. But it was defeated by a Keyblade master." She proudly told her tale to me and Riku, while other bodies began to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Don't tell me. Did this Keyblade master have large black ears and a tail?" Riku said with a hint of sarcasm behind his question. Wait, was he saying that the one of the Keyblade Masters was…the king?

"No way! It was the King?" I shouted my reaction a little too loudly. Now everyone was staring at me. The Queen just busted out it quiet giggles.

"Yes. It was Mickey. But he's not here to help…" Minnie sure can change her mood fast at just the thought of her missing husband. Her crestfallen feature was just making me sad, and I hadn't ever met this King.

"If only I had recognized this sooner. You wouldn't have gotten separated from Sora and Kairi, Riku. And you wouldn't have had to travel here, Hikari."

Well I didn't exactly know what was going on here at the time I decided to stow away on Riku's Gummi Ship. But that's beside the point. I'm here now, and I'm going to help this Queen.

"Don't worry, the King is out there somewhere; along with Sora and Kairi. I'm going to find them no matter what." Riku reassured Minnie with the up most of confidence.

"I know you will Riku. Thank you."

"And I'm not just some worthless girl! I may have just met you but I'm not letting a single person in this castle get hurt by ne of those…things. Have confidence in us Minnie, because we won't let you down!" I gave a huge thumbs up to Minnie with a reassuring grin.

I noticed Riku looked some what surprised. He didn't know how sincere I really was. I never want to see another person hurt becuase of those damn Heartless.

"Thank you Hikari. I'm so glad that we finally have some help! You and Riku sure make a great couple!" She said this with a lively smile.

"Huh?" Normally i would have freaked out, but instead my body went numb and my heart beat pulsated faster than a steam engine.

Riku P.O.V.

"Thank you Hikari. You and Riku sure make a great couple!" My heart nearly blasted from my chest when the Queen suggested me and Hikari were a…couple.

"Huh?" Hikari's face was blank. Mine probably was too. What do we do in this situation?

We probably stood there in silence for who knows how long. I wanted to look at Hikari for some kind of hint as to how we should respond, but my body wouldn't turn to meet her eyes. What the hell is going on?

"Oh, umm, unless, you aren't together?" Minnie fumbled with her words, obviously embarrassed at the completely wrong accusation.

"Oh no, umm, no, we aren't, no, we aren't together or anything." Hikari jumbled with her words while shaking her hands to indicate no hard feelings. "Yah, I just decided to tag along with Riku. Considering I wanted to help people with the Heartless problem." She nervously rubbed the back of her neck while trying to explain to the Queen our actual situation. The problem was I still didn't know why she came. Was this a lie or the truth she was telling the Queen.

"You tagged along?" I was completely confused. All the embarrassment from before disappeared. I resorted back to my initial question: Why and how was Hikari here?

"Yes I did. Remember?" Her eyes went wide while her face revealed that she would severely hurt me if I didn't play along with her explanation.

"I mean yeah. I knew Hikari could fight so I decided to bring her along." The Queen at least looked somewhat convinced. Hikari opened her mouth to make another statement but a castle resident called the Queen away from us.

Now I was left with Hikari. As easy as it had disapeeared, the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach and cheeks returned.

I needed to get a hold of myself. First of I needed to ask Hikari some questions as to why she's here, and secondly I can't possibly think of being with any body. My past wouldn't allow it, and my darkness was only tolerable by my lost friends.

When the Queen left, I turned ready to face Hikari.

"Hikari."

"What?" She still wouldn't meet my eyes, but i wasn't going to stop for her comfort. I advanced her, causing her to back up a little, but I didn't hault my actions. I leaned close to her ear, making sure that no one could hear me, and wispered harshly.

"Why the hell are you here?" I stood back a little after getting my message through to her allowing myself to see her face. She just stared past my chest, she seemed to look in deep thought. That, or she was stalling for the best answer.

I guess I was scared. She reminded me of how Sora would act in this sort of situation. She was willing to help people she just recently met. She was determined to save a place she just recently perceived. All just like Sora and his pair of noble team mates.

I knew that all these questions were piled in my head but my heart was rattled with another question.

"Hikari..." She finaly looked up at me, her long chaotic strands falling from her face "...why are you willing to stay with me?"

* * *

**Yes i know..."WHAT KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT!" But don't worry, lots of action and fluff in the next chap! Plus it's summer and i have A LOT more free time! :D ****Ok so what did ya think? I know it moved a little...fast (or at least to me), but i just needed to get them well into the castle. Pluss i tried to add a little more fluff and action in the story. So tell me if i need to improove any thing...**

YOU...MUST...PUSH...PRETTY...BUTTON!


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok you can feel free to throw multiple fruits at me for taking so long! Hope you enjoy the chap!**

**Thankyou to everyone whose reviewed! Im serious...they mean so much to me and they keep me wanting to make each chapter that much better! Cookies for all of you!  
****Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts...only Hikari and my plot**

* * *

Chapter 7

The ballroom to this place was probably some magnificent hall with bounties of delicious food, loyal servants, and happy castle dwellers feasting till their hearts content.

Now, its some deserted, gloomy room with wallpaper scraps every where, chairs toppled over, window glass shattered, and clans of Heartless and Nobodies dying to feast on our hearts. Perfect.

"Has there been one room that hasn't had a heartless in it!" I yelled over to Riku as I blocked an oncoming Dusk attack.

"We just have to keep looking! These enemies aren't what we're looking for!" Riku was holding his own against the attackers. Slashing in controlled movements cutting through the mob of enemies.

"Ha!" I slash through my final enemy, just moments before Riku manages to destroy his. "Hey, I beat ya."

"Don't get used to it." Riku made a smug face before resting his Keyblade a top his shoulders.

"Well...whatever." That got a chuckle out of him. This guy was different from most people I've met. He meets challenges full on, instead of resorting to a safer plan. At least, that's what I've come to believe. Every room we've entered he doesn't hesitate in his advance, which strangely sparks my own confidence.

From what happened earlier, I feel more secure in knowing that I'm not some thorn in Riku's journey.

\Flashback/

_"Huh? Why am I willing to be with you? Why would you..."_

"_Just answer it truthfully. I…" His brow furrowed in confusion, making me even more uncomfortable and anxious "…I …don't understand why you want to be…with ME?" He stressed the last word as if he were some plague that should be avoided._

_I didn't think that at all…yet why was I willing to stay with him?_

_I could say that we're friends, but to what extent? I've only known him for a few weeks and yet I'm asking to accompany him on HIS journey. I have no ties to his friends or that King he's looking for. I'm from some unknown world that he's probably never seen, I'm just…a stranger. So should I just give up…?_

"_Hikari?"_

_Damn! Damn me! What do I say? I don't want to get all mushy and tell him my whole life story hoping he'll understand my reasons! Should I lie? No, then he'll have all the more reason to not let me stay! Ugh!_

"_Umm. Well, I'm...umm...you see I'm…"_

_"Ahhhhh! Help! Kill it! Kill it!" My sentence was interrupted with the shrieks and screams from the castle inhabitants. I was thankful at the luckiness of the moment, but I regret ever having feelings of relief._

_"What the? Kill what?" I looked up to Riku hoping he had some sort of clue as to why pandemonium was breaking out, but he looked just as confused as I was._

_"Kill it! Help! Kill it!" More screams flooded the Hall. Riku and I literally sprinted to where the commotion seemed to be the thickest._

_And that's when my heart sunk and veins throbbed. There was a Heartless in the hall. The Hall of the Cornerstone had finally been breached._

_As if we had planned it, Riku and I slashed the creature back to eternal darkness simultaneously._

_"How...I thought you said this place was safe?" Riku didn't even look at me. His face looked as if he were in some agonizing pain. He didn't sway his sight away from where the creature was just annihilated._

_"Riku! Hikari!" Queen Minnie ran over to us, her puffy dress bumping into numerous shins and knees. But the focus wasn't on her dress..._

_"What happened?" Riku still failed to respond, so I answered_

_"There was...a Heartless. Right there." I pointed to the spot using my blade. Its glow cascaded a small light onto a spot where the Cornerstone's light had failed to reach. Wait a minute..._

_"Oh no." I whispered. Careful not to alarm the rest of the crowd. The light of the Cornerstone was receding. The light's rays barely reached the room's limit…but corners were now open for a Heartless to just waltz in, well more like crawl in, unharmed. Slowly but surely this room would no longer be able to protect these lives. Their time here was slowly ticking by with every Heartless and Nobody entering this doomed castle…_

_"Riku?" The Queen lightly touched his arm, I watched as he sprang back to life with the delicate mouse's touch._

_"Hey Riku. Are you ok?" I didn't like the look on his face. It wasn't scared nor was in shock. It was full of rage. Most of it harboring in his eyes. Normally his quiet and reserved pale blues were now storm filled orbs of a murky grey. He was really pissed. Fuck, so was I!_

_"Minnie..." His voice was remained monotone, but it didn't help cover his rage. It only made it that more apparent._

_"Riku. Don't worry. This will all work out in the end. We just need..."_

_"...Help?" I interjected. I couldn't stand here and wait for the problem to be fixed. If fate existed then I was here for one purpose, to save these people from the darkness._

_"Hikari..." My body tensed at the sound of Riku addressing me. Why am I reacting to him like this? It must be because I just saw how angry he had gotten._

_"Yeah?"_

_"Will you help me?"_

_My blood must have heated to boiling point, where as my heart nearly shot out of my chest. He didn't want to get rid of me. My help was wanted and accepted. I was so relieved to the point where I nearly wanted to hug the boy. Of course I would never do such a thing; I probably would be turned down or shoved away. This is enough though, this acceptance._

_"Hikari?" Damn, I have to get rid of this habit of not answering questions out loud._

_"I'd be glad to!" I gave Riku my signature thumbs up. He just smiled; the storm in his eyes slightly calmer._

\End of Flashback/

The floor trembled beneath us as we made our way through yet another hall way. This place has too many damn hallways. By now we only had one wing of the castle to investigate, but the amount of Heartless and Nobodies were forcing us to make multiple recovery breaks. My magic was beginning to become weak, forcing me to halt all cure spells and _light _attacks.

"Riku, do you have any more ether?" We had run inside an unused room that surprisingly remained untainted by the scum.

"Yeah. But it's the last one." He handed the blue glowing vile to me with slightly shaking hands.

We had used our supply of potions, which wasn't that abundant to begin with, and we were slowly struggling to regain our strength during these breaks.

"I think I'll save it..." I concealed the vile within my one of my short pockets "...it's only going to get worse, huh?"

I heard Riku exhale a long and drawn out sigh. He was either tired or frustrated...most likely both.

"Riku don't worry. You know that we both can kick some major ass!" I pulled off the biggest grin I could manage but the silver headed teen still remained crest fallen, which, surprisingly, made my heart sink slightly.

"Hey..." I rested my hand on his shoulder hoping to get some response out of him "...we're going to make it. Together. So don't...be like this anymore. Ok?" Finally he lifted his head to rest his eyes on to where my hand was clutching his shoulder. I almost sighed in relief at the spark of life I sensed in his pale blues.

"Thanks. I'm just...worried."

"Well geez, who wouldn't be?" I gave a sincere smile, which he immediately returned. That's when I felt a blush coming through. Not only was his hand now a top of mine now, which was still resting on his shoulder, but his smile had taken me totally by surprise. Shit, damn hormones!

I quickly snatched my hand out from under his, not at all worried that I had just ruined the moment. Wait, we weren't having a moment! I was just comforting my friend in this crucial time…yah that's it.

"Umm, we should keep going." I walked away a little too quickly but I didn't want to risk showing my scarlet face.

"Ye...yeah." His speech fluctuated in a nervous way, but I was to set on getting out of this room to take the time to address the fact, much less remember it.

I shielded my face away from Riku until I was sure my cheeks had returned to its normal color. The last thing I need right now is for my hormones to get the best of me. A fight was coming, and we still had no fucking clue what we were going up against.

Riku P.O.V.

We were running out of rooms to check and there was still no sign of this thing we were looking for. However, both Hikari and I have noticed that the more we travel the thicker the Heartless and Nobodies become.

"We're getting close." I huffed as I finally managed to defeat the newly developed swarm of Nobodies.

"Yeah...I...can tell." Hikari answered while swinging her blade every which way to defeat her own set of enemies. "This thing better be close because these Heartless and Nobodies are pissing me off." I could tell she was beginning to become fatigued. Her stance was beginning to favor her right side and her grip on her sword was becoming looser with every swing.

"Yeah. I hope so too."

"Ugh, well hopefully…" I watched as Hikari's eyes grew two sizes larger, a fear in them I had never perceived before "…Riku! Watch out!" _Boom! Boom!_

I rolled out of the way nearly dodging a huge fire ball that had been launched by a Fat Bandit Heartless. Hikari reared back in fear at the now burning carpet fabric. That's when her blade in hand went slack, her knees buckled from beneath her…she was scared. Damn, this was not going t go well.

I knew that they were only located in select worlds…and this wasn't one of them. This meant the infestation was getting worse to the point where unfamiliar Heartless and Nobodies were being called to this world.

_Whoosh! _A thick blanket of fire erupted from one of the five Heatless' mouth. I dodged the attacker with ease, but was unable to counter due to the fact that there were four other Bandits there to provide support. I was lucky enough that both Mickey and Sora had fought against them, so I already knew that their back sides were their vulnerable points. Their slow wobbly movements made it easy to creep behind them and strike. I just needed to be tactful and patient.

The Fat Bandits sent continuous sprays of fire, eventually splitting me and Hikari apart. Now the peril of the situation was enough to have our both our lives in jeopardy.

"Ahhh! Shit!" Hikari yelped at the suddenness of her attackers. They weren't as weak as they looked. Their slow movements were made up for by their blazing attacks.

"Hikari!" I dodged two fire spitting moves, before I could search for Hikari. Unfortunately, fighting against an element wasn't her strong point, and I doubt any of her friends had told her how to fight these things. She was desperately trying to avoid two Fat Bandits that had decided to mark her as their target. One was spit firing, while the other sent shock waves on the floor by pounding the ground with its obese belly.

She sent a violent flash of light with the flick of her blade toward one of the Heartless' bodies but it didn't cause much damage since its front side negated most attacks...plus I knew her magic was well past its limit. Another fire was spit at her but I had t turn my head and focus all attention on my attackers.

_Boom! Boom! _I wanted to go help her, but I had three Fat Bandits of my own to be up against. I just hope that she could hold out for just a few moments.

I managed to peril one of the Heartless' attacks with a Guard move with my Keyblade, giving me the perfect opportunity to slash it clean with my blade with a limit move Sora had described once to me.

One down, two more to go.

I took a quick glance to where Hikari was fighting, just a few yards down the hall from me. She had managed to dodge both attackers, but the fire was still playing with her weakness.

I needed to finish these guys off, and quick. If Hikari got hurt, then the blame would be completely on me. I've allowed her to stay here where danger was inevitable. More than just allowed her, I found my self more and more _wanting _her to be here where her life could end in an instant. Back in that room, I don't understand why she said the things she had said. But it was bringing out selfish desires for me wanting some acquaintance to accompany on a journey that was and will continue to be life hindering. She was...concerned about me? Just the thought of someone, other than my friends, caring for me caused my head to spin.

A huge mistake by me.

The moment I let my mind wander a Heartless seized the opportunity to blast a flaming aurora toward me. I moved just in time to only allow my skin to become slightly scorched.

I noticed that the attacker had to recover from its previous attack. Perfect opportunity.

I jumped high in the air, sending my body on the opposite side of both Heartless, forming a line with our bodies. I send dark tendrils of energy from my hand to the Fat Bandit in view, stunning it for a limited time. With a swooping motion that I favored in all my fighting tactics, the Heartless instantly vanished. The other Fat Bandit had just recovered from its attack but it was too late.

I batted the Heartless up in the air with a strong turning motion of my Keyblade. The Heartless didn't even reach the ground before its body dissipated into nothing but a lonesome pink heart.

Now to help Hikari. I turned around to where I had last seen Hikari fighting but an empty hallway was the only thing that greeted my eyes. Scorch markings and torn carpet pieces showed their recent struggle.

"Shit. Hikari! Hikari where are you!" I strained my ears for any sound, but my sense of sight is what helped me.

At the end of the hallway I noticed a flickering of light that was much too bright for a simple lamp. The Heartless had pushed Hikari all the way to around the corner, which I knew for a fact was a dead end.

Damn it. I'll be damned if anyone gets hurt now! I'll fight with my life before anyone dies by the hand of darkness.

A sickening feeling overcame my stomach while sprinting to the end of the hallway. I could faintly hear Hikari's battle grunts and yells through the castle walls.

"Hikari!" I yelled as loud as I could, which wasn't much since my lungs were crying out for air.

"Riku! Hurry the fuck up!" Her normal humorous tone with cuss words was filled with fear and timidity. This only boosted my adrenalin to keep running down this much disliked lengthy hallway.

Finally I rounded the corner to find Hikari hindering simultaneous attacks from both her pursuers. This left their rears open for attack. One perfect slash, and all that remains are two delicate pink hearts floating in the air.

Using the Rush attack Sora had described to me, I sent one of the Fat Bandits back to darkness right before I slashed through the others back. Only pink glittering hearts existed in their place, before they disappeared forever to Kingdom Hearts. They were finally all defeated, but I wasn't so sure if Hikari's metal state would ever recover. Battling against an element is completely different from a battle between blades. The risk of death is almost absolute.

Hikari's arms were slightly singed from the speckles of ash that had made its way onto her skin. Her vest had been slightly scorched on the right side of her body. Her skin was slightly redder, which meant that she must have gotten a slight burn from the continuous fire based attacks.

"Hikari. Are you alright?" She looked like a frightened animal. Probably scared out of her mind, since she was almost burned to death. I guess her experience with fire was next to none.

"I'm...fine. It's just..." She swallowed hard before continuing "...I was...I'm not used to fighting against...fire." Her voice broke at the last word of her sentence. She looked down in embarrassment, probably not accustomed to showing fear and discomfort in front of others. But It was only going to get worse. Cruel as it may be, I knew for a fact that this was only the beginning.

"Hikari..." I didn't know what to do. Do I comfort her? Leave her alone? I've never been in a situation where I was the only source of comfort for someone, let alone for a girl.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She lifted her head up and gleamed a somewhat convincing smile. Only her eyes remained shut as she repeatedly told me that she was ok.

"Are you sure, cause…"

"I'm fine!" All humor fled from her speech. She was shaking with rage, I'm guessing. But why? All I'm doing is being concerned…ugh I feel like Sora. Always helping, always cheery, always _not _like me.

Fine. I guess I should stop trying to act like Sora and start acting like me…

"You don't look fine." I blatantly said, all emotion leaving my voice.

"Wha…what? I can handle myself thank you very much! I…I just need more experience and then I'll be able to defeat those kinds of Heartless with one hand tied behind my back!"

"Do you really believe that? Do you think experience is all that it takes?" She opened her mouth to reply with a rebuttal but closed it instantly when she began to ponder on my question. "If you want to come with me on this journey, for reasons that you still have failed to clarify to me, then you need to be strong. I know what it's like battling the unknown, the darkness. It's some scary shit, but if you truly want to help these people, if you really want to make a difference, then fear is the last emotion you want to control your actions. If it happens again, then you'll be killed and lost in darkness."

I tore into her pretty hard, but this was the horrible truth to Heartless. One moment of hesitation or doubt and your heart was pretty mush theirs for the taking. But who the hell am I to tell her these things…

I myself have lost at this very war that I'm stressing she fight in. My heart gave in multiple times to the darkness of this world, and I ended up loosing everything I had: my family, my friends, my home…my very existence. Everything I've had was destroyed by my selfish desires till the point where my soul was no longer my own. Never again will I let that happen.

I'll never lose to darkness, nor will I let anyone become a victim of its gruesome calling. Not even some stranger whom wants to accompany me on a journey that could endanger something she'll never want to loose…

"Hikari, if you only could understand why this is so serious. If you loose to these things, if you're soul is lost because of their lust for darkness then you'll never find rest. You're heart will be theirs…forever."

It was as if the mood had changed the light of day. The tainted glass window fragments no longer were shining their multicolored rainbows. The hall was dark and quiet; figures it match the current topic.

"You're wrong." I snapped my head to look at the now crying girl in front of me. Her hair cascaded past her shoulders blocking my sight of her face, but it was obvious through her speech that she was crying.

"What?"

"You're wrong, there's always hope that you can make it out of darkness. You're never completely lost." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, as silent drops of salty liquid kept falling to the ground at her feet.

"I know now that second chances do exist!" _Throb "_Even if I'm consumed by darkness I'll never give up!" _Throb_ "I know full well the danger of this situation and I'm never going to let anyone experience this danger longer than they have to!" _Throb_

My heart pounded with every word uttered by this girl. I've been told about dreams of hope and second chances, but I always disregarded it as luckiness. But when Hikari spoke of such emotions…I strangely…believed her…

"…I'm going to help Riku. If I die, then it will be because I was protecting the innocent lives of our unstable universe." She lifted her head up, showing a new found light burning deep within her now dried out eyes "I won't be weak anymore…I'll help you. I'll fight!"

The light in the hallway brightened to a magnificent glow that illuminated the entire hallway, making the demonic and depressing scene before more tolerable, but I didn't even take in the sudden change in light.

My head was numbed by Hikari's words. She understood full well the situation we were in. She was on par with me in determination to protect innocent lives. Was this why I was excited to the point of nearly wanting to grab the girl and beg her to say words of hope again? I didn't want to let this happiness fade; she was a mystery, she was still a stranger, but…she was my friend.

I know now that she was meant to stay here…for I keep finding myself having more and more connections with her. Was this intentional, or was she genuinely reflecting feelings that she felt? Either way I could only manage one reply that my entire injured soul was screaming out…

"Thank you."

* * *

*******peeks behind couch Helloooo there..mumm before im yelled at for promising a quick update and then taking more than a month to update let me explain:  
1) summer school was taking up time and yes i didn't do much at school but it left me less time in the day to do chores and watching my little brother during my free time is very distracting and frustrating for me  
2) my laptop came back from surgery...but all Word and typing programs were deleted so that was a problem (THERES NO SPELL CHECK ON WORD PAD! if you didn't know i suck booty at spelling)  
3)...well im a VERY VERY VERY lazy person and i feel bad for taking so long  
Sooooo ill try (scouts honor) to update a little faster than a freaken month! XD**

**Ok what did you think? Did Riku seem slightly ooc? I'll try and fix that...  
Sorry it was short...it was orriginally longer but i split the chap. Hopefuly it was alright...  
But I WONT KNOW UNLESS YOU PEOPLE REVIEW! PLEASE! IT HELPS ME ALOT!**

**OMG the button bellow made billions of cookies appear at my doorstep! HURRY AND PUSH IT!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Enjoy! And Review! They mean A LOT! and all sugestions are taken into consideration!  
So to those who have reviewed (even if it was only once) you guys rock! Thanks a bunch! :D and the people who favorite/ alert this story also make me happy! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don'town Kingdom Hearts...SADLY! T.T**

* * *

Chapter 8

Hikari P.O.V.

I hated crying in front of people. It made me feel so, weak? That, and being the person that I am, I never expected anyone to show comfort. I was always a lone wolf, the reserved one. But on the battle field everyone knew that I was the top dog. I was the one in charge.

And I loved it.

But with Riku, it's different. Even if we're just running I feel like I'm some helpless child that he has to look out for. Back in that hallway, I let my fears get the best of me. Fire scares the shit out of me, I can't help it. That was the scariest moment in my life. Well, it was a close second.

But when Riku said that I could never receive a second chance at my life, my body was released from its shaking state of fear. I knew second chances existed, because I…

"Hey, are you ready to move?" I snapped my head up, cutting my train of thought off.

"Oh, umm, yeah." I struggled to stand from the broken chair cushion I had been resting on. My leg was crying out in agony over the resent turn of events. Those bastard Heartless…burning me and shit…

"Wait." Riku stood up reaching into his jean pocket. I sat back down with a huff, thankful that we were going to rest for a while longer. My magic was still strained from the previous "battle". I didn't even do anything…Riku had to save me.

Then I cried. Just the thought of knowing someone has seen my crying face makes me so…uncomfortable. Even though I've been slowly gaining Riku's trust, I still sense some reluctance.

And my weakness of fire isn't helping my goal. To help other world's rid themselves of the Heartless and Nobody infestation.

I looked up at Riku. He was obviously frustrated over not remembering where he had left the item he was trying to reveal.

After the battle with those fire breathing demons, Riku and I frantically searched for some place to rest. We had gathered any items lying on the ground and quickly stuffed them into any pocket we had on us. I looked down at my short pocket containing the ether Riku had given to me a while ago. Its blue glimmer shown slightly through my dark fabric.

"Here" I looked up at Riku. Apparently the item he was trying to find was a potion. I was about to grab the vile without any thought to it, when I saw that most of his hand was singed a raw red color.

"No, you take it." He just held his hand out in front of me. The glowing contents in his hand caused my eyes to squint slightly.

"Riku, your hand is burnt. And I'm pretty sure that's not the only place that's burnt." I took a quick glance at the side of his body, finding that most of his vest had been brutally singed by the flames. Specks of burnt flesh covered his arms, leaving small mole like ash marks.

"You're burnt too." Is all he said, while pushing the healing liquid even closer to my face.

"No I'm not!" I raised my voice in a defending tone while trying to stand to face Riku at the same view point, but stopped due to the rising pain in my left leg.

"You're favoring your right side when you battle. And your grip on your sword is weaker. Plus…" He knelt on one knee while gently lifting my injured leg to rest over his own. I fought back a hiss as his figures barely touched the rawest part of my flesh. "…you got burnt pretty badly here." He looked up again, this time with more concern and lightness to his stare.

I turned my head in embarrassment. He noticed my injuries? He stared at me strangely; probably wondering why I was turning my head. Just the thought that Riku was concerned about me made me feel…happy? I guess I wasn't used to concern from others. I was always the one to protect.

In fact…I can still protect Riku.

"Fine." My defeated tone got a snicker out of the silver haired teen as he outstretched his hand with the potion. I took the potion out of his hand, but quickly grabbed Riku's wrist before he could retract it fully away. "Later…we'll share it. Better that we both get some relief than just one of us. Am I right?" I dared him to challenge me by staring straight in his pale blue orbs. They hardened at first, as if he were about to refuse. Then they softened slightly, and redirected their gaze to a ragged wall of the room.

He cleared his throat before answering a quick "fine" and rested his eyes on my leg, making sure not to damage it further while taking it off his bent knee. He turned his head away without further eye contact as he stared at the opposite wall.

My body reacted to the loss of contact in some strange way that I couldn't deem as positive or negative. Whatever it was, I blushed madly at the foreign emotion.

Riku faced away from me while scratching the back of his head, which I had come to learn was a nervous habit of his.

_He's probably nervous about the Castle and the Cornerstone. _I thought as a watched Riku climb over a broken bed frame to get to the door.

"Let's go." Riku cracked the door opened, while peering into the next hallway we were about to explore. This place has so many damn hallways…

* * *

We continued to make our rounds throughout the castle, not once ever confronting an enemy. The lack of fighting helped in my recovery, allowing me to perform multiple Cure spells on both me and Riku. I could calmly control my magic recovery in a matter of minutes.

However, the lack of enemies caused my senses to go into overdrive. My stomach felt almost sick at the anxious feeling pounding through my body.

"Something's wrong here." I was whispering in a hushed tone only Riku would be able to hear. I had a feeling something big was going to jump out at us. Maybe those fire breathing Heartless will appear again… I shivered at the thought.

"Keep your guard up. Normally if there aren't many Heartless in one area, then there will be hundreds in another." Riku ran harder with his blade resting over his shoulders.

The hallway we had been running through opened up to a circular room with three other hallway entrances, each opposite from one other entrance. The Castle's coat of arms hung over each hallway entrance. However the flags were tarnished and ripped to pieces, decorating the floor with ocean blue fabric.

A large oculus allowed small rays of light to shine on the center tile of the vast room. The tile depicted an image of similar to Minnie's head. Armor pieces as well as lush and green plants were thrown all over the room. Along with broken furniture, pots, and harmless weaponry that only belonged on the walls.

"I don't like the looks of this." I noticed that some of the blue flag scraps were burnt. My body almost went into a panic. There was more fire… Damn it!

"Well, it looks like we can only go through that hallway." Riku pointed to the only hallway that wasn't blocked by castle decorations. Well, at least we didn't have to decide which way was best.

We would have run to the opposite side of the room if it weren't for the echoing noise of our footsteps pounding through out the castle.

Walking was eating up our time…but we couldn't give away our position since, so far, our enemies have failed to find us.

Silently we managed to jog stealthily to the middle of the room. The oculus was right above our heads as we heard a slight jingling noise from our designated hallway.

Instantly both mine and Riku's blade was summoned. I stood straight up, holding my blade out defensively in front of my chest. Riku held his Keyblade high over his right shoulder, pointing its tip at the dark hall way entrance.

The bell noise repeated, but the lack of light prevented me from seeing no more than a foot into the tunnel like passage. The bell like noise increased in volume.

I looked at Riku out of the corner of my eye. Giving him a questioning look, hoping this noise was familiar. He only remained focused on the hallway, staring blankly into its shadows.

He didn't know what it was? I panicked at the thought. He knew so much about Heartless and Nobodies. Weather he learned it himself or from his friends, he was much more informative about these beasts that I was.

Apparently, Riku read my internal panic and responded in a calm and low voice "It's only a weak Heartless that casts simple magic attacks. From the sound of it, there only appears to be one. But…"

"But…what?" I resounded calmly, the relief that Riku knew what we were up against instantly dissipating my panic.

"…there's never only just one." I was regretting Riku ever opening his mouth now. There was only one, weak, little Heartless. But it was never alone?

Finally the chime sound's producer appeared. A small Heartless with a blue cylindrical body appeared like a buzzing bee appeared out of the shadows. It took one look at us with its glowing yellow eyes then quickly retreated back into the hallway.

I lunged forward to chase after it but Riku halted my with his arm.

"What are…"

"Shush!" I would have been aggravated that this boy had the nerve t 'shush' me. But I only contributed to listening along with Riku.

At first the castle seemed to be deserted. The only sound being my rapidly beating heart. Then the bell noise came again.

Then another bell could be heard, joining in as the previous chime's echo.

Then another bell came. Then another. Almost instantly, one bell seemed to multiply into a thousand. Send a horrifying high pitched noise blasting from the shadows of our only escape.

Then the sources of the noise appeared. Just like an angry bee hive releasing its whole swarm, a multitude of blue, red, and yellow flouting Heatless rushed out of the hallway, surrounding me and Riku from every angle.

In small randomly assorted groups they came flying at us. Launching their magic projectiles at our standing point.

"Damn it!" I huffed in annoyance at the newly swarm of Heartless that was challenging us. Riku and I moved our blades in rapid flowing motions blocking the Heartless' attacks. Of course, there had to be fire involved.

Out of all the elements I could be up against, fire had to be one of them.

I yelped as a thunder attack struck my right side. The attack was weak, but the numbness the electric magic sent through my muscles impaired my strength to just hold my sword.

Riku had reeled back into me as a shard of ice darted across the room, hitting his stomach.

He hunched over, having the breath momentarily knocked out of him.

There was no way we could keep this up. With no help in sight, all I could do was wish for some miracle.

* * *

This type of Heartless, as I was told by Riku while he was yelling instructions over his shoulder at me, absorbed specific magical abilities according to their color. Red absorbed fire, blue absorbed ice, and yellow absorbed thunder. My magic was of an unknown category, so I had no problem defeating these things.

However, if they would stop moving then this battle would be a lot quicker. An invisible puppeteer seemed to dangle each Heartless on shaky strings. I would slash at a Heartless in midair sending a line of light magic toward its cylindrical body, but the damn things were moving like flies. Plus, my magic was being stressed to its limit, and the continuous attacks weren't providing enough time for me to recover.

"Hikari, you're not going to hit them if you just swing away like that. You have to hit them where they're clumping together!" He didn't have to worry about my offense any longer. Heartless were attacking left and right, unless I wanted to freeze over, melt, and-or receive a morbid electric therapy, then I had to go on a full defensive mode.

Riku and I were back to back, in the middle of Heartless swarm. My blade was moving non stop at how many attacks I had to block. I tried not to quiver whenever a wisp of fire was thrown towards me.

The Heartless had figured that attacking in small groups was not going to bring us down easily. Now they were struggling to form a steady wall of Heartless all around Riku and me. Shooting simultaneously, causing a mass of magical attacks come shooting our way.

Riku and I were moving our blades so fast that my own eyes failed to keep my weapon in focus. I grunted and fell to the ground as my blade failed to block a wave of ice shards, which spiraled into my right side.

"Shit!" I hissed at the pain in my side. I prepared myself for the on slaughter of attacks that would have no trouble of hitting my vulnerable frame. But no pain came.

A magnificent clear shield had been formed over both me and Riku. The attacks only created small circular ripples on the outside shell.

"Riku!" I turned to find that he was holding his arm outstretched, fingers spread open, towards the top of the shield.

"For now this should protect us. But I don't know how long this will last." The answer was obvious, not long at all. Already Riku's face showed an incredible pain of focusing his magic on keeping the shield alive.

"How do we beat all these things with out getting bur…hit?"

"We can't."

"Huh?" That's not what I wanted to hear! There's no fucking way I'm going to get hit by fire! No way…

"We don't have time for this. We're going to have to run for it…" I shook my head at Riku, giving him my best '_Are you crazy?' _look. "…We can't waste time Hikari!" My mind flashed back to the miserable state of the castle residents and the Cornerstone. He was right. The Hall of the Cornerstone was in peril. The lights protection was still weakening for all we knew, and the residents in there were waiting for us to save them.

I just hope we can save them in time.

"Ok…I understand. So where do we go? We're surrounded by a swarm of Heartless and there aren't any openings." I shifted my gaze to Riku outstretched arm. His muscles were bulging from the continuous stress and beads of sweat were beginning to form on his skin.

The Heartless were beginning to attack in showers of magic projectiles. A mass of fire balls collided into the shield near my head, causing me to rear back closer to Riku. I would've tensed at our contact, but my mind wasn't functioning correctly on account with all the fire.

My blade rose up from reflex to the showering attacks. The swarm was thickening, and the only escape route I could make out was the dark hallway from where our attackers came from.

"Hikari! On three send your magic towards that hallway!" The shield was fading away making the Heartless go into an overdrive mode. The increase in attacks made the room noisy with our screaming, the Heartless' strange bell noises, and the sound of the shield fading with each attack.

"What? You said I wouldn't hit anything if I…!"

"Trust me! After you send your magic, run straight for the hallway following the magic's path!" What? Follow it? How the hell is that going to protect me? My magic travels ten times as fast as my full out sprint. Plus those red Heartless are casting Fire magic like crazy.

"On the count of three!" Riku yelled over his shoulder as he readied his Keyblade in his other unused hand.

"One!" The shield faded even further with the sound of ice shards hitting crashing into the mysterious magic.

"Two!" Lightning showered all around us. Illuminating my blade's glow. I was truly scared. But what ever Riku was planning, I had to trust him. I did trust him...

"Three!" The shield faded slowly, opening up enough for me to release a powerful band of light. The use of my magic tired me even more but my adrenaline pumped my legs as fast as they could go.

I ran as if my life depended on it.

Riku P.O.V.

"Three!" Hikari's touch released itself from my skin as she bolted after her magical attack. The light she casted formed a thin line in the Heartless' offense, creating an extremely thin gap.

With all my concentration, I gathered up the power of darkness within me. I copied Hikari's attack, only with two streams of magic, each on the opposite side of the light stream Hikari had produced. With her safely in the middle, the streams passed her with no damage done.

The dark energy clashed into her magic, significantly expanding the rift in the Heartless made fortress. The shield I had made completely faded, leaving me open to be pelted with various magic projectiles.

I sprinted to the rapidly closing gap, struggling against the mob of attacks hitting my body. It felt like being in the down pour of a storm. If I quickened my pace, then the amount of attacks hitting my body would decrease, but the impact would increase in both speed and damage. Whenever my pace would wither, the attacks would hit my body at a non stop pace, but the damage done by each wasn't that powerful.

Either way, I was coming out of this in the same condition…

I decided to sprint as fast as I could. I was more worried about helping the castle than over my own dilemma.

The Heartless raced to close off the gap Hikari and I created but their progress was being slowed by Hikari's constant magic. She managed to keep the gap open long enough for me to break through their offense.

We didn't even look back as we rounded the hallway corner. We could hear the Heatless buzzing fade, but I never stopped running. Hikari was running along side me, searching for some place we could recover at.

The first room I found I slammed the door open. I exhaled a relieved breath to find that the room was not infested with Heartless or Nobodies.

I quickly shut the door after Hikari had made it inside.

I pushed the door shut with both hands, but let my hands stay on the door even when it was closed. I was exhausted. I was never the one to perform such powerful magic spells. I was more comfortable with combat.

My hand begged for me to relieve it of its agonizing position but the pain in my body was winning the fight of attention.

I could hear my breathing steady; I concentrated on letting out even puffs of air, hoping to gain better control of my pain.

"Ugh." A moan from a corner of the tattered room reminded me that I wasn't alone. As much as my body wished to just never move again, I forced my back against the door.

"Hikari…are you alright?" My voice was shaky from the damage, but I tried to cover it up as best as I could. I knew that if she thought I was hurt then she would abandon her own injuries and help me…as her teammate. I didn't want to cause her anymore pain than I knew what she was feeling.

"I'm…bleeding. But fine besides that." She was gripping the leg that was burnt. The raw skin had become so irritated that it began to bleeding.

"Use the potion. It should heal it."

"No. If I drink the potion, then you have to drink half of it as well!" She winced when she slowly sat down on the shredded bed mattress. She reached into her short pocket, pulling out the green glowing healing drink.

"Hikari. There's no way that half of that can heal your injuries. It'll only stop the bleeding."

"Fine with me!"

"Why are you being so stubborn? Just drink the damn thing, I'll be fine!" She flinched slightly before hissing a painful sound as she gripped her leg even tighter. I felt a little guilty for just yelling at her, but she needed the potion more than me.

She brought the glowing vile to her lips, silently drinking the potion down. But she stopped halfway through the drink, capping the vile with its cork.

"What are you doing?" A weak green glow shined through her skin before disappearing all together. Her leg had stopped bleeding and surprisingly some of the flesh was healed. But the wound was still harsh on her nerves.

"Here…" She threw the potion at my head before flopping backwards onto the semi broken bed, both her hands resting over her eyes.

"I said you should have drunk it all."

"Yeah, well…I couldn't. Since you don't really know me Riku you won't understand…"

"Then help me understand." She sat up, exhaustion written all over her face, but her eyes never faltered when she stared at me.

Hikari P.O.V.

"I'm not the kind of person who can just ignore their friends in need. You just performed two top ranking magical spells that would leave anyone fatigued. That shield wasn't just some normal shield, and that wave of magic you produced was something I've never seen before. I can't sit here and drink that whole potion knowing that you're suffering. I just…can't. Ok?"

Riku just let out a long sigh before rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He unplugged the cork from the vile and slowly drank the glowing green liquid. The small ash wounds on his arm instantly healed. His major burn marks closed slightly as well, leaving only rough patches of charred skin.

"See…I told you that you'd feel better." I said with much triumph that I had convinced him to drink the potion. Standing came much easier to me now that I had drunk some of the potion.

"Well that was the last one, so just be more careful. Ok?" Riku was dusting off his vest, sending a shower of black ash al over the scratched tiled floor.

"Yeah, plus we have people waiting for us! We can't let them down." Riku looked like his mind was miles away. His reacted with so much concern for the castle and its people.

"Yeah. Let's get moving."

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way? We've been running through this castle for hours and the Heartless and Nobody count hasn't even increased?" I mind kept flashing back to the Hall of the Cornerstone and how miserable everyone looked. What if the light had already completely faded? My heart rate rose to a rapid pitter patter; they had to be alright. We were going to save them.

"Hey are you alright?" I shook my head, clearing my mind of any doubt.

"Yeah. I just want to find this thing and help the castle. I didn't even know there were beings that could be this powerful. But Riku…" he turned his head with a questioning glance before stepping over some broken armor "…these Heartless, don't you think that, well, they're a little too organized. Like usually in Radiant Garden, Heartless would just appear out of nowhere and just randomly attack. But these…they're attacking in groups now at a location that works more for their benefit."

Riku just stared at me in shock. What? Was that a stupid question or something? "Ah never mind. I guess that was a dumb question." I looked straight ahead, blushing in embarrassment for apparently asking a stupid question.

"You're more observant than I gave you credit for."

"Huh?" Riku was…smiling? Was my question that stupid to where it was humorous?

"I have a feeling something is controlling the Heartless and the Nobodies. It's happened to me before."

"So there are actually beings that can control these things? What kind of monster would want to do that?"

I saw Riku flinch from the corner of my eye. From the pain due to his burns I'm guessing. "There were a group of strong Nobodies called Organization XIII. They could control the weaker Nobodies and some Heartless. There were also other villains that could control the Heartless…but that was a few years ago."

"Did you have to fight these people?" I was extremely nervous and excited at the same time to have the chance to get a look into Riku's past. I wanted to know more about him... since we're going to be teammates and all. Yeah, that's why.

"Well yeah. I had to fight them. Sometimes with friends and sometimes…alone."

"Wow. That must have been… umm…scary."

"What?"

"Fighting alone. Knowing that you have no back up, no relief just makes you all the more anxious and careful while fighting. The best fighters have to learn to fight alone. At least…that's what I've been taught."

Suddenly Riku became really crestfallen, nearly loosing his footing on some stone ruble. I reached out to steady him by his elbow, but then I suddenly slipped on a loose shingle.

"Ah!" I fell forward but my weight was steadied while two hands gripped my hips keeping me on my feet.

"Are you ok?" Riku was holding me up, and was very, very…VERY close. I could feel his vest brush against my back. His knee was almost touching my thigh. I could even see small strands of silver hair brush against my own shoulders.

"Ah…yeah I'm fine!" My voice was an annoyingly high pitched tone. And I could actually hear my cheeks as they turned from pale white to a scorching scarlet. I pulled away from Riku, thankfully landing safely on a small square of carpet.

"Are you sure?" Riku was struggling to hold in a laugh as I again tripped over a folded piece of carpet.

"Shut…shut up! You just…surprised me is all. I thought I was going to do a face plant, but I didn't…and yeah." God I sound like an idiot. If my face could get any redder I'd probably set my face a blaze. Damn cheeks!

He just silently chuckled, as we continued on in a comfortable silence. Normally I would be on guard and tense whenever a wave of silence crept over me, but now it just feels…so relaxing? Weird…

I crept silently behind Riku rounding the corner of the dull and ragged hallway to cast my eyes on a soaking wet hallway.

"What the..." The hallway looked like a flood had erupted from a set of two large maple wood doors from the parallel end of the hallway. The carpet was a mushy red fabric, knight armor and the castle's coat of arms flags decorated the hall way as if they had been swept away by a storm. The hall way stretched a good forty or fifty yards, the dampness of the walk way ended right where the hallway twisted into a newly formed hallway.

"Was there a...flood?" Riku just stood there in silence, his mouth a gape at the mysterious scene.

We walked cautiously, creating small squishing noises with our feet as we struggled to keep a stealthy attitude. You could faintly here a struggle from behind the upcoming doors. It sounded like something was pulling on the door.

Riku held out his arm signaling to halt our advancement. The comfortable silence that I was growing fond of disappeared, now the silence could have drowned anyone with in their own thoughts.

_CLASH! CLASH! _

"What the fuck was that?" It sounded like a typhoon was breaking loose right behind the wooden doors. I could swear that I had just heard lightning! Plus, the doors were creaking and shaking on their hinges from some sort of high powered wind.

"Riku..." I looked at Riku for an answer. But his face remained full of confusion. Damn. So he didn't know what we were facing either!

The door rocked back and forth, the sound of cracking wood indicated that the door was on the verge of cracking into pieces.

I clash of…lightning?...rumbled throughout the room. I stepped back cautiously. _Why would there be lightning in a room? _I held my blade up defensively at the thought of some being able to produce that strong of a thunder spell.

Only that wasn't magic. This was actual lightning.

"Hikari…are you ready?" I hesitated, which was very odd of me. Before I would have already been through these doors hunting down whatever was causing the castle havoc. But with everything that's happened, I've found my self becoming more…confused? Who knows what the feeling was; I was just becoming more hesitant, which was pissing me off.

"I'll admit…" I was facing the door still, getting into my traditional fighting stance "…I'm a little confused, shit…I'm kind of frightened right now too. All these enemies, these monsters; they're more than just harmful pests. I could die…"

I let out a shaky breath, releasing all my apprehension along with it. "…But I understand now that you'll have my back. I'm not alone in this!" I gave a thumbs up trying to hold in a large smile, but failed.

Riku didn't just stare, nor did he just nod and run ahead. He smiled too, a genuine smile that activated my flaring cheeks again. Riku cleared his throat before turning towards the door in front of us.

He barged the doors open and we were met with...a hurricane?

Rain was literally pouring from the ceiling, soaking everything with in the newly wrecked room. Clouds acted as a shroud of gray fluff, completely shielding the ceiling from my view.

"Hikari! To your left!" My reflexes saved me from being pelted over by an incoming royal chair, but when I turned to see where the objects were coming from I finally could scarcely perceive this damn _thing _me and Riku had been looking for.

I don't know if its the swirling vortex of wind above our heads or the sudden indoor lightning and rain that's beating the surrounding ground, but I swear that the thing we were about to face was a…person?

Riku P.O.V.

"Hikari! To your left!" I watched as she barely dodged an on coming dining chair careening at her like a bullet. I looked to where the chair was flung, focusing my senses on the blurry object in the distance.

It was hard to perceive, since the figure had produced a vortex of white wind around it. But I could only make out the blackness of the figure. Black…like it was warring a…

"Shit!" This couldn't be happening. The wind must be playing with my eyes. It can't be possible…they're all gone.

I noticed a blue gleam of light from my peripheral vision. Hikari had just downed the bottle of ether I had given to her when we were stuck in another room. Her blade glowed a few tones lighter, signaling her magic was at it fullest.

I concentrated hard on the dark energy that I was granted control over. It couldn't be what I thought it was… That was impossible…

I positioned my Keyblade in a parallel position to my frame. Its ominous black glow contrasted with the radiant light of Hikari's blade. Both our blades had slithering electric pulses of energy, showing our preparation for the brink of battle.

The figure turned to us, immediately flinching back in surprise, causing the swirl of wind to slowly come to a halt. The clouds above our heads began to dissipate, revealing that we were in another dining hall located in the castle.

Forks and knives were engrossed in the walls and ceiling, chairs and tables were shattered to just simple shards of wood, and broken pots and plates showered the floor like confetti.

The wind died down, and the rain and lightning began to recede into the strange being's weapon of choice, a hammer like sword. Brightly shining emeralds decorated the head of the pounding weapon while a thick silver cord wrapped itself around the hammers handle. The pale silver color brightened into a mystifying blend of silvers, blues, and yellows when the indoor typhoon had fully receded into the weapon.

That's when my heart stopped and my world felt as if were about to crumble out from under my feet…again.

The man was dressed in a long black robe that cascaded a demonic shadow over his visage. The same coat as an Organization member.

"How…" I stared at the enemy, studding its posture, weapon, and stance. It didn't symbolize any of the Organization members I remembered. This Nobody was new..

"Riku who the fuck is that?" Hikari kept her visage forward, holding her blade defensively in front of her.

"This can't be possible…" Wind began to spiral all around the figure, bringing every loose object careening towards our bodies.

The unknown enemy slammed its sword on the ground, releasing a small wave of water out from its bunt end. The water rushed over our heads, creating clouds that suspended over our heads. The downpour of rain continued just as it did before.

"Riku!" The wind was biting at my skin, which was still slightly raw from the burns received. Then all hel broke loose.

Lightning struck the ground around us, scorching multiple items before having them dosed with the rain. The combination of both fire and water caused steam to rise into the air, hindering my eye sight to the point where the light from Hikari's blade nearly disappeared.

All I could do was stand defensively, while struggling to find where the enemy had moved to. The rain stopped suddenly, slowly allowing the fog to let up.

"Riku?" I could faintly see the glow of Hikari's blade a few yards away. She must have been knocked back by the wind or an object because her leg wound had re-opened.

"Hikari!" I ran over to her, assessing the damage dealt to her leg.

"I'm fine! Where's the thing at?" I looked around but the room was empty. The hurricane around us was silent while the gray clouds above us swirled menacingly over our heads.

Back to back, both Hikari and I drew our blades. My muscles twitched at every movement. This wasn't good.

_CRASH! CRASH! _Lightning struck the ground around us, catching the scattered wooden a blaze, creating a ring of wild fire.

I heard Hikari gasp as she back stepped closer to me, gently touching my back with hers.

"Don't worry Hikari. Just avoid the flames." She didn't answer, but I felt her hair bounce up and down from her nodding.

"Who are you?" I jerked my head towards the source of the unknown voice.

The black cloaked figure stood almost a mist in the flames, as if the burning didn't affect him at all. His voice was deep and boomed almost like the thunder apparently he could produce.

"Same for you! Why are you here? What do you want?" My voice seemed to echo throughout the storm filled room.

"Is that a Keyblade?" His voice was questioned me while he pointed with his free hand towards my weapon.

Hikari gripped her blade tighter, switching from a defensive position to an offensive one. I pointed my Keyblade towards the mysterious beings figure, preparing for the fight that was sure to come.

He slowly advanced forward, creating a break in the ring of fire surrounding us. His hammer glowed a bright red as his body traveled through the burning plasma.

He reached up for his hood and slid it slowly down his head. His eyes stared straight at us, focusing hard on my keyblade.

"That's the symbol of your end." The room became darker with the thickness of the clouds. It was almost pitch black, if it weren't for Hikari's blade.

"Hikari...watch out for..." _Clank. _The glow created form the light producing blade faultered, wtih the sound of metal hitting the ground. Hikari had dropped her blade, its shiny metal glowing near her feat.

"Hikari?" She remained motionless, her mouth slightly agape as she stared at the Organization member.

"Hikari!" She fell to her knees in some invisible pain. Never taking her eyes off the face of our new enemy.

"A...Ar...Arashi?" Arashi? She never took her eyes off the Nobody. But I didn't understand. Was he inflicting some hidden pain on her? Or was she in shock over the return of the Organization? No...she didn't even know about them, so why is she...?

"Arashi? Is that..." her voice was barely above a whisper as she asked with a strange look in her eyes that held some new found joy in her.

"Arashi? I don't know what you are talking about. My name..." A crack of thunder lit the room, causing the fire around us to multiply in area. The clouds swirled a grusome spiral, signaling the start of a horrible vortex. "...My name...is Shixara, Master of the Storm." The Nobody intensified the lightning strikes, by waving his large hammer through the air.

"She's calling me back. My time here was a failure, this castle truely is unattainable. Just as she foretold" The vortex around us increased in speed all the sudden. The fire was brought into the the coils of wind, intensify the temperature around us as if we were standing in an oven.

"Next time Keyblade weilder, I will fight you. With my _full _power." This brought Hikari out of her trance, she jumped back from the fire, colliding into my body, but we both managed to keep our footing.

"Arashi! Don't go! ARASHI!" The Nobody ignored her pleas and disapeared into the an obsidian portal to the secret streams of darkness.

The wind around us intensified, the thunder cracked loudly and randomly about the room. The place was going to be blown apart.

"Hikari come on! We have to get out of here." She just stared at the ground by her knees, so I had no choice but to carry her out on my back.

I mangaed to hop out of the scolding tornado we had been trapped in, but the wind was making it extremely difficult just to find footing. Dangerous objects flew through the air at every angle, and the storm only seemed to increase in strength with every second.

"Hikari hold on." She didn't respond, but I could feel her grip tighten around my neck.

I sprinted throught the raging hurricane, dodging flying objects, jumping over fire, bracing my self as a strong wind came. Finally I burst through the doors, just in time before the room went from a chaos of wind and lightning to a wall of water.

The clouds above shunk as they poured every last drop of rain out from their flouting forms. The water bursted out of the room through any boken windows and the door I had just exited through. I sprinted as hard as I could but I was too weak, and my legs couldn't overcome all the obsticles in my way.

The water hit me from behind and I lost contact with Hikari. I tried staying above the surface, but I was knocked out cold by some hard object that knocked me in the back of the head. The last thing I remember seeing is the outside light of the castle brighten up to a sunny day.

* * *

I gripped my head with much discomfort as I came through. I could feel myself lying down on some soft surface. My head was wrapped in...something itchy, while I rested on my back with my arms and legs out stretched in pain.

"Riku? Are you awake?" Queen Minnie's high pitched voice made my head...wait...Minnie?

I opened my eyes cautiosously. I swear I had just heard Minnie's voice. But why was she here with me?

"Oh Riku! You're awake! Thank goodness." The sweet mouse held her hands to her mouth in aboslute joy over my awakaning. My eyes adjusted to the lighting around me. It appeared we were in the Gummi ship, and I was lying on a budle of blankets with guaze and bandages wrapt around various parts of my body.

"Your Majesty? Why...how?"

"Hours after you and Hikari left, the Cornerstone seemed to release its light to the fullest without holding back by one inch. We waited for you guys to return, but you never came and I became so worried. Some of the servants found you and Hikari all soaking wet in a hallway! Oh Riku, I was so scared. I thought that something horrible happened to you two.

I tried to sit up, which came surprisingly easy. I noticed several empty potions near the blacket I was laying on. To my right, about a foot away, Hikari was laying on her own set of sheets. Her vest had been taken off, showing that most of her side had been burnt with whatever fire we faces. Her leg wound was wrapped in bandages as were her hands. She too had empty potion viles sitting by her head. She looked alright... but why has the Organization member affected her so much?

"Riku...what happened to you two?" I almost didn't want to tell her. I just wanted to say that it was just a bunch of Heartless, or the Nobodies were acting up agian. But I couldn't keep this news a secret. Something big was going to happen because of this, and this castle deserves the right to know.

"Minnie...the Organization...there's a new member..."

* * *

Hikari P.O.V.

_"Hikari! Hurry your ass up or we're gong to be late!"_

_"Hold on damn it! I'm coming! Sheesh!" I bounded down our maple wooden stairs running for the front door to where my brother was waiting._

_"About time. Geez Hikari, you can't get rid of your ugly by staring at the mirror for an hour! That'll take some major surgery."_

_"Dumb ass! You were the one who was supposed to wake me up, so it's your fault I over slept and now we're late!" I puched my brother's side as we made our way to the main town._

_He just made really silly and childish faces at me for my latest comeback, which I couldn't help but smile and laugh at. No matter how mad i was._

_"Big bro...there is such a thing as a brush maybe you should try using it." I tried to hold a clump of his hair high over his head, but since our hieght differed by a few inches, I could only manage to hold it out to the side of his face._

_"I don't need a brush." Is all he said while swaying his shoulder length, dark black, unkept hair. He decided to skip ahead of me like he was some fairy princess or something._

_"If you keep that up then the elders are going to think mom and dad dropped you on your head multiple time when you were a child." I laughed when he nearly tripped, seeing that skipping wasn't his forte._

_"Oh yeah? Well mom and dad did drop me so...wait..." He stopped skipping around and looked up into the sky. The clouds had gotten so dark. But the sky was so beautiful when we left. "...something isn't right here."_

_"What? Do you feel rain coming?" My brother was famous for always knowing what wheather we were about to experience and how long it was going to last. Maybe he was slipping up and forgot to tell us about the sudden rain._

_"Hikari! No, don't you feel it. That feeling of...evil." I paused, and stayed silent for a moment. Then the feeling my brother must have been feeling hit me at an alarming rate. The feeling of doom._

_"Come on!" I followed my brother as we sprinted across the country side to the main town. Maybe the elders were practicing some dark magic, or someone died and the town was giving off an ominous feeling._

_I struggled to keep up with my brother. His deer skinned vest flapped around his lean body, giving away his location whenever his long legs carried me away from him._

_We stopped on a small hill that overlooked the main town. And we were met with silence. Absolute silence._

_"This isn't right. Did someone die?" Normally the town was buzzing with people. Even in the late hours of night the town was still active with its midnight vendors and workers. Plus when someone in the town died, the church bells would ring the moment of death._

_We just stood there. Watching, waiting. For what...i didn't know. But it felt like we had to wait for something._

_"Arashi? What's happening?" I questioned my brother but he didn't respond. He only shook violently as he stared off into the distance. It looked as if something were trying to erupt out of him._

_I reached out, but suddenly the swirling of clouds above us unleashed a shower of lightning bolts. Catching the ground at our feet ablaze._

_"Arashi! HELP! ARASHI!" Again my brother didn't move. The fire caught onto my clothes and skin. I tried to rub the flames of by desperatly moving my hands all over my body as if the flames were that easy to brush off._

_"ARASHI!" I looked to my brother again, but he only turned his head to me._

_His face. It was his face...but it was different. Older somehow, but it was him, right? It had to be him. I was staring at his unkept hair, his unusual black eyes, his lean frame, his high cheek bones. But he was somehow much different, but it was my brother. He was just there._

_"Arashi!" I called out again but no answer. He didn't even flinch as the fire grew around us, completely engulfing our bodies._

_"Big brother...Arashi..." I held out my hand to grab him but he pulled away in clear disgust. My heart sank to the bottom of my chest. What was he doing?_

_"Arashi? Brother?" His voice...that wasn't his voice. His normal sweet baby voice that got him everything he wanted was now a harsh boom that caused my ears to cry out when his voice combined with the thunder of the clouds._

_"Arashi! HELP!" He just stared in confusion now. Then he smirked at me, and my world nearly crumbled away when he spoke._

_"I'm not your brother anymore..." He walked away leaving me to the crumbling earth around me. I tried to reach out to him but he was too far. He not once turned around as my body turned to ash and the darkness took me over._

"Hikari?" As always, I struggled to come back to the real world when ever I had a nightmare. Everything was blurry and shaky. All voices were muffled by my ears, as if I were submerged under water, drowning.

"Hikari..." I felt a warm hand rub my cheek of the tears I was sure I shed while having that horrible nightmare.

I've never had a dream like that, but I'm sure it's due to everythings that's happened.

Arashi. He was right in front of me. He was standing right in front of me, but he couldn't see me? Hear me? He never called back to me... He just stood there like I was a stranger he had never seen.

"Arashi." I cried out my only brother's name while trying to hold back frech tears that were being squeezed out of my, still, closed eyes.

Whoever was by me, cupped my cheek and used their thumb to wipe away the tears I has failed to contain. I realised this was a loosing battle and just let the tears escape my lids.

"Arashi!" I sobbed, remembering just how close I was to my brother again. How I could literaly see his face once more when I had accepted the fact that I would never see him again. He was standing there...he was looking at me...but...but...

The hand on my cheek pulled away, but I grabbed their arm. The feeling that someone was here to comfort me helped a little. But it wasn't enough to mask my feelings.

Immidiately I knew whose arm it was. The familiar warmth and touch comforted me even more. But my tears still spilled. Not out of fear, anger, or frustration. Out of pure, heart renching agony.

"Riku...why...he..." I was crying into his arm, hoping that he had some answer as to what had just happened. Arashi was there. He was standing right there but...that wasn't him...

"I'm sorry...Hikari...your brother...he's" I sobbed even harder, already knowing the answer, pulling into Riku's arm even more hoing it would ease some pain. It felt like it didn't...

I cried out, knowing the fact that I had lost my brother again.

* * *

**Srry for any misspellings or grammer issues. I had to type the ending on the fanfic document editer page thingy and i was to lazy to push the spell check. XP Im sorry! Go ahead and throw fruit!**

**OK so what sha think? I was so surprised when i uploaded the chap and it was nearly 9,000 words! Holy cow! **

**So did u like the length? The switching in P.O.V.'s? The fluff/ action? The new oc? Just let me know your thoughts with a review! :D**

Well the cookies don't work right now sooo...oh wait...MAGICAL MUFFINS? PUSH THE BUTTON? HOLY COW!


	9. Chapter 9

**Ofcourse thankyou to everyone that has reviewed! EXTRA COOKIES TO REVIEWERS! haha ^-^  
ALSO i'd like to quickly thank KhAel for offering to make a fanart of my OC Hikari. Thank you for your support!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor Disney, nor Final Fantasy, nor anything else awesome associated with KH...**

* * *

Chapter 9

Riku P.O.V.

Her latch nearly pinched my arm off, cutting all circulation going to my fingers. I effortlessly tried to rid her tears on her cheeks by continuously rubbing my thumb over the reddened skin. But she didn't stop crying, so I just knelt there, letting her cry into my wrist.

"Why…I…" she stumbled over her words as another train of sobs broke out from her mouth "…I…he…he was there! He was…" she frantically tried to catch her breath by huffing air into her clogged throat "…he was staring at me! Right at me damn it!" She quickly released my hand and covered her own eyes with her arm, while her other hand hung limply on her wrist. The blanket she was under went up to her chest, not helping in her increase in temperature. Plus her hair wildly surrounded her, sticking to her neck and becoming entangled in her clenched hands. Trails of her dark tendrils stuck to her face, but she made no attempt to move them like she usually did. She just laid there, her teeth grinding together with her fight against her sobs.

"He was there…" She strangled her words out of her gritted teeth. Her arm still remaining over her eyes "He was there. He was there. He was there." The more she said it the more she lost control, her sobs became even worse, and her lips trembled before more liquid appeared at the side of her face.

I didn't even realize what I was doing before it had already happened. I gently touched the side of her face, trailing my thumb against the trail a newly formed tear just created.

"Riku…why was he like that? Why…why…why didn't he…" She stopped mid sentence, unable to suppress her sobs any longer.

What do I do? I can't just tell her that her brother was a Nobody, an empty shell. Seeing her like this, this…hurt; it's making me sick. Sick and tired of seeing all this shit happen because of these _things!_ What do I do?

Damn it! What the hell am I doing here? I'm the last person who should be doing this!

But why can't I get up? I could just leave right now and Hikari wouldn't even care or notice. I'm probably making things worse for her. I'm not a place for comfort, for release. I still have my fucked up life to deal with…how the hell can I help someone else with theirs?

_Sniff. Sniff. _Her sobs stopped momentarily and her facial features, at least the ones I could see, relaxed a little.

I got up to leave, slowly rising from my knelt posture, but a sudden grip on my pants stopped my movements.

"Please…don't leave…" Hikari said through clenched teeth. " I…I…don't want to…be alone. I don't want…to…to…to see him like…_that_ again." She still had one of her hands on her eyes, but the one that was holding onto her wrist was now latched on the bottom of my pant leg. She began to breathe even faster, making the sheet covering her chest heave up and down.

I remembered how she was churning in her sleep, before I woke her up from her screaming. She was yelling out the name 'Arashi' and the term 'brother' in coherence with the words 'stop' and 'no'. She was turning from side to side in her sleep, while tears strained out of her closed lids. I couldn't take the sight anymore so I woke her up. It made my stomach ache from seeing her that way. But the feeling wasn't from disgust, but from…from…?

"Riku?" Her voice surprised me, snapping me out of my recollection. Her voice was hoarse, but she managed to stop her crying for the moment. Her chest was still heaving up and down at a rapid pace.

I didn't know what to say, but I couldn't leave; no matter what my legs weren't allowing me to move away. So I sat down quietly next to Hikari. Her hand retreated to her side, and she relaxed her breathing. She had…calmed down? Did my presence have that affect on her?

No.

It's from her reassurance that there will be someone here to wake her up from her nightmares. I'm sure if anyone were here right now then she would be equally as calm with them as she is with me now.

The next few minutes were silent, but calming. Hikari had calm down significantly, and her breathing became regular again before she drifted off into sleep once more. Her hand slid off her face, dragging damp threads of black and yellow hair into her face.

I just starred at her face, almost itching to remove the hairs caressing her cheek and eyes. What the hell is wrong with me? My arms and legs seem to want to act on their own agenda. I balled my fists hoping to control my arms to stay put.

Sighing, I turned my head away from Hikari. Unconsciously I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed for just realizing I was, well, staring at Hikari sleeping. I was too lost in thought to realize where my eyes had landed.

"Hmm…" I turned to Hikari's mumbles, afraid that her nightmares were starting. She became rigid and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep before going limp again and resuming her slumber. I slight scowl remained on her face, behind her misplaced hair.

I couldn't resist any more, so I move my hand gently across her face, sliding her hair away from her features. Her scowl faded immediately and her visage settled on a more calm and relaxed face.

"Hikari…" I dangled her name out in the open, recollecting the past events.

Everything happened so suddenly that I couldn't even function correctly. I only remember the new Organization member and Hikari's reaction to him. Everything that could've went wrong did, and then some. Things were in chaos.

"Hmm…Riku…" My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. She said my name? Did that mean she was dreaming about me? I stared at Hikari's sleeping form, her calm profile turned into a more content appearance, with her mouth slightly turned upward. She was dreaming of me…and smiling?

I shook it off, not questioning the bizarre behavior any further. Hikari's at least calm now, why ask questions? Her tranquil face didn't even offer a hint of desperation and agony, it was too peaceful, too still to disrupt. I may not know much about this girl, but seeing that pain, it almost hurt in a way.

I decided to get some sleep myself, since I was still sore and recovering from the recent battle.

The last thing I remember was seeing Hikari's hand lightly glide over to her head, lightly fisting her hair before she finally settled into complete sleep.

0O0O0O0O0

"Please, I don't want _you _to!" _Hikari?_

I forced my eyes open, struggling with the overwhelming headache I felt. My head was still wrapped in gauze, as well as part of my chest. Hikari was still lying down across the floor from where I was resting. She was gripping the blankets tightly against her neck while her red and strained eyes threw daggers at a Castle servant.

"But miss, your wounds need further treatment." The poor creature staggered forward, almost as if he were afraid of Hikari.

"I already told you! I want the person who treated me first to come! Not you!" She yelled ferociously at the cow-like man. His height was similar to Goofy's, but his face wasn't as cheerful and carefree.

"But…her Majesty Minnie…she…" The servant struggled for words, but stopped when he saw that I was wide awake staring at the two. "…ah…I'll…ah!" The servant sprinted out of the Gummi Ship, not even closing the door in his haste. I guess he couldn't handle the pressure.

"Ugh…I have a headache now." Hikari was still unaware that I was awake, since the servant didn't really elaborate on why he ran away. She rubbed her temples while letting the longest sigh ever drift out from her lips.

"Why do you want Queen Minnie to come?" I asked, without realizing it.

_Great, now my mouth is acting on its own. _

But truthfully, I was confused over Hikari's clear stubbornness to not let the castle servant attend to her wounds. I remember, well vaguely, talking to Minnie and explaining to her about the new Organization member, but the memory was fuzzy and hard to recall. I don't even remember Minnie's facial expressions or the fact that Hikari might have even been awake while I was talking to her.

Why did she want Minnie?

She turned her head to the side, eyeing me as I sat up form the hoard of sheets I was laying on. My head felt like a brick, maybe I shouldn't have gotten up?

I heard a quick gasp, before looking over at Hikari. She had turned her head away form me, and her knuckles turned white from her unbreakable grip on the sheets covering her. Did I do something?

"Riku…" She spoke softly, with her head still facing the opposite direction "Are you…how are you feeling?"

The question felt weird and out of place. Was I expecting her to say something else?

"Good. I'm just…sore. You?" She still kept her face away from my vision. It bothered me that she wasn't looking at me. Had I crossed a line with her when she was crying in her sleep? She specifically asked me to stay with her. So my presence couldn't be at fault. What happened?

"Hmm…do you…know where Minnie is?" her voice had lowered to such a hushed volume that I barely caught what she said. She pulled the sheet covering her even higher, covering a part of her chin.

"I don't." I then remembered that she still hadn't answered my question. I wanted to ask her what she wanted with her. Why didn't she accept the help of that other servant? They were only trying to help. But instead, my mouth acted on its own and questioned a different action of hers. "Why did you turn away?"

"…"

Silence. She didn't even move, not a single muscle on my body moved either. It felt like time was suspended before us, while I waited for her answer.

But it stayed silent.

I knew it. I had done something that offended her, or worse, something that may have opened up the newly fresh wound that she had just spent hours crying over. Her pain was obviously unbearable for her. Crap…and I just made it worse. _Nice going Riku…_

"Umm…y-you're…umm. You're not wearing a shirt…and I was just…just surprised."

"Huh?" I looked down to only find myself in my pants. "Oh…" What an idiot I am. I don't even notice that I'm half naked and I ask why this girl isn't even looking at me. I must have been hit on the head pretty damn hard.

"Sorry…I didn't even notice."

"It's ok…well I mean it's alright. Not that it's not…umm…wait…" She fumbled over her words, still starring at the opposite wall, squirming nervously under her sheets.

"I'll get my vest…" I stumbled trying to find my footing without toppling over onto the Gummi Ship's hard blue flooring. I noticed that my clothes were draped over the Gummi Ship's only pilot chairs. I griped the pilot seat, hoping the room would stop turning from my aching head. I grabbed my shirt and vest, but also noticed Hikari's vest too.

_That's why she's so nervous. _

My head, skimmed along her tattered vests fabric. Some of the tears and holes formed into the soft material had been sown up, just like my clothes had. But her vest was beyond complete repair, seeing that some of the major holes and scorch marks were still visible.

She didn't want to be seen without her vest? I wouldn't push her nervousness any farther with my questions. She was suffering right now…the least I can do is create a comfortable atmosphere for her. At least, that's what I would want…

I slipped my shirt and vest on, struggling to arrange the material correctly on my body. My muscles were still aching from injuries, so getting dressed was a hassle.

"Do you want me to find the Queen?" I couldn't stay in the room any longer. Knowing that I was contributing to her misery made my body react in some foreign way. I felt almost _pain _knowing that I was causing her distress. I didn't want to contribute to anyone's pain…especially my friend's.

Yeah…Hikari was a friend now. Why wouldn't she?

The notion that Hikari was my friend brought another strange emotion, almost negative and discomforting, but I ignored it as I opened the doors and told Hikari I would send Minnie to the hanger if I found her.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Hikari P.O.V.

Riku left swiftly through the Gummi Ship door, creating an echo throughout the silent cockpit as it shut loudly against its frame.

I turned my body back to a comfortable position on my back. Damn Heartless, damn Nobodies, damn them all!

"_I'm not your brother anymore."_

I shook my head, abstaining from any thoughts about…about…

"Damn it!" I can't lie down like this any more! I shot up, angered by my wondering mind, but mostly because my ass was going to fall asleep if I were to lay stiff under those blankets any longer. The soft cloth fell from my neck line, revealing skin I normally would _never _expose to others. For two reasons.

One, I'm not comfortable having my body out in the open for examination. If I could I would ware pants and a long sleeve shirt everyday of my life. But my lifestyle wouldn't allow it. I needed the freedom to move my muscles for any battle I encountered. So I settled on shorts that I always wished could just magically grow in length, a plain tank top, and my most adored and treasured vest.

The other reason being that my body was horribly scarred.

They weren't scars that I held pride in, nor were they significant scars either. They were gruesome and reminded me everyday of my horrible past and, probably, my soon-to-come horrible future. I hated these scars. I hated how they felt. I hated how they looked. I hated what they reminded me of.

"I just wish you would go away." I rubbed the glossy smooth skin. It trailed along my entire right shoulder, starting near my collar bone and ending at my shoulder blade. The skin didn't fuse together properly when it healed, so the trail looked like a mush of pale clay being clumped together. It was ugly. The skin stretched drastically like a rubber band, almost as if it were going to break any minute and my whole shoulder would dislocate.

Other scratches and scars surrounded the rift in flesh, but I never noticed them. Compared to the main flaw they were insignificant to my the one that received my constant attention. It was always this damn scar that haunted me. It was this damn thing that would never let me forget my troubles, well it was one of the factors…

One factor that will never let me forget what happened _there_.

I rubbed my head, agitated over myself and my slip up. I had let my feelings overcome my senses. Fuck...I even cried out to Riku, _begging _him to stay with me while I slept. I was too afraid of reliving my dream, no, my _nightmare _about my…my…

"Brother…" My eyes stung at remembering his face. He had looked right at me. He stared right into my eyes and said he didn't know who I was. He didn't know his name.

Why? Why was I nothing to him now? Why couldn't he remember me?

_Maybe it wasn't him?_

No. It _had _to be him! That person looked too much like him to _not _be him! It was the same hair, eyes, face! Only his voice was different. It boomed in my ears. Just remembering that strange noise coming out of his mouth made my ears burn with confusion.

"Arashi…what happened to you?" I rubbed my face repeatedly, stopping any fresh tears to fall onto my lap. Why did he do this to me? Did he hate me now? Did he really not remember? Why was he here? Why did he know about the Keyblade? Why!

"Damn it all!" This journey was supposed to give me the opportunity to help others; while killing the things I despised in this universe the most. But all it's done so far is cause my heart to break open and cause every emotion I've struggled to contain leak out into the open, allowing others to scrutinize and play with.

_Riku didn't do that…_

A warmness overcame me at the thought of Riku. I remembered everything. I had gripped his arm for comfort, I begged him to stay with me. Fuck, I even felt sad when he said he was going to look for Minnie. _For me. _Why should I care? He's probably just doing this so he doesn't have some moody and emotional woman near him. He's just doing it to shut me up and help himself.

_And I'm lying to myself…_

"Riku…" I knew he wasn't that kind of guy; even though I didn't really _know _him. But from what I've examined, he's not a bad guy at all. He cares deeply for the castle, and everyone that lives in it. His dedication to his friends is so overwhelming to me. He stole a Gummi Ship from Cid, of all people, to just go look for his friends on his own.

_Why am I thinking of him so much?_

That answer was obvious. Recently, while my heart was pouring out every emotion and memory I've had to train myself to handle and suppress, he was there, comforting me, helping me. Others have tired to do the same, but it was almost as if he could relate to me somehow. Like he knew how I felt.

_Impossible. _

No one knows how I feel, because they can't even imagine what my memories consist of. And I wouldn't wish these memories on anyone. Why would I curse someone with the knowledge of the most cryptic and horrify of places. I would have to be some sick and twisted person to ever think that.

(A.N : short flashback) _"Hikari…" I felt a warm hand rub my cheek of the tears I was sure I shed while having that horrible nightmare._ (end flashback)

I remembered his hand wiping my tears from my face, tears that my most beloved family member had caused me to release. Suddenly the skin where his hand had grazed began to burn.

"What is wrong with me?" I must be bipolar or something. I cry over my brother for hours, my heart causes my body to become some immovable shell, and now the thought of Riku makes me…happy?

I felt the burning sensation of my cheek move to cover my whole face. Why was he affecting me so much, almost relieving my pain? It's all too confusing. Man, my life is seriously fucked up right now…

"I need to talk to Minnie." I changed my train of though, instantly stopping the burning sensation that had suddenly overcome my face.

Minnie was the one who healed me, which meant she had to have noticed my shoulder. I had to explain to her not to tell a soul. This was something I had told myself I would die hiding. It wasn't the normal battle scar that a warrior would flaunt, it was an omen, a constant reminder that no matter what I did, no matter what I tried I was tainted, flawed, broken…

Of course, Minnie couldn't have figured that out. But I'm not planning on telling her. I have to hide these feelings again, even if I have to hurt myself or others. I can't bear having these…these…pestering emotions get in my way. Never again!

"Hikari?" I small sweet voice sounded from behind the thick metal door of the Gummi Ship. I quickly sat down, arranging the blanket over my body, just in case Riku had tagged along with Minnie.

"Yes…come in!" Minnie came in and shut the door quietly behind her. She was wearing her usual pink frilled dress that almost made her seem angelic in the darkness of the Gummi Ship. The little light that was able to enter through the main window of the vessel gleamed off her shiny wardrobe. Minnie was so pretty, in her own unique giant mouse-like way…

"Hikari, Riku said that you wanted to see me?" This was it. I needed to set this straight before it got out of control. _If _Minnie would even allow it to become chaotic.

I sat up, letting the blanket slowly roll off my body. The sheet collapsed all around me, revealing my bare shoulders and neck. Only a thin sliver of fabric from my freshly sown tank top rested atop my shoulders.

"Minnie…I need to talk to you about…this." I pointed a shaking finger at my scar, careful not to touch its bumpy smoothness. I was so nervous. I never thought I would plainly let anyone see this. I'm a little relieved it's Minnie though; I probably would feel almost naked if I were showing it to someone else.

"Oh, about you scar?" I was taken back by her bluntness. There was no undertone of surprise, or disgust. Her eyes didn't waver from my own, and her body didn't shiver from the sight. It was as if she saw things like this everyday.

_Maybe she did?_ She was too fragile to experience the outcomes of battle. This had to be the first time seeing such a wound. Weird…

"Yes. I would appreciate it if this were not spread…to others. I don't want anyone to know about it. It would only cause others to question me and…" I looked away, not able to handle Minnie's unwavering stare "…I don't want to explain it." I waited silently, expecting a long silence then a swarm of questions from the chipper queen, but again she surprised me.

"Don't worry Hikari. I won't tell anyone. You don't have to worry." She beamed a huge smile before walking over to Riku's bed area to retrieve some empty potion bottles from the floor.

That's it? That's all she had to say? She didn't have any questions as to _why _I had this scar. Why I despise it so much? Why I wish to keep it a secret?

"That's it?" I clamped my mouth shut. Why the hell am I asking that question? I should be grateful that Minnie is minding her own business! I should've just left it at that! I've ruined everything now! Stupid Hikari! Stupid!

"Oh…well I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable. You told me you don't want to talk about your scar, so I won't ask. I'll let you tall me whenever you want. And if you don't then I'll be fine." She smiled a full and genuine smile before slowly getting up from her crouched position with four empty potions in her hand.

"Minnie…thank…thank you!" I don't deserve your kindness. Geez…there can't be anyone nicer than her.

"Your welcome, and I'm sorry Hikari but there are some things I must check on now. Come find me if you feel pain. I'll help you." She walked to the door, carefully handling the potions in her arm while opening the door with her small dainty hands. She stopped at the threshold, with her back to me.

"Hikari…" Her tone had become serious. The lightness surrounding each of her words was no longer there. I stood straight up, much to my body's distress.

Minnie serious…just witnessing it, I could feel her power as the second in command of this castle.

"…I know that some day…you'll find someone who you can trust with this. So please…when you find that person, hold them close to your heart forever." With that, she turned around one final time, offering a sincere smile before softly closing the Gummi Ship door.

I absorbed every word, almost cherishing the hope she felt for me.

But was it all in vain? She believed in something that could never happen. I was to forever bind these memories together and throw them into the deepest pit of my soul. There was no one to trust, no one who would actually want to handle these…emotions, this baggage I held. If there is…then I can only wish with my entire being that they'll come and find me…

Because I desperately need them.

O0O0O0O0O0O

"Wow, I can already see a difference." The castle people were busy with repairs and improvements in the Castle's structure. In every direction there was either building material stacked high for some particular part of this fortress, or there were castle residents shouting orders for what needed to go where or what project was on the list next to accomplish.

The Gummi Ship hanger was the only place that had remained relatively sound. Lucky, since the Gummi Ship was parked in there.

"Hikari!" I scowled at the unfamiliar voice. I thought only two people in this castle knew my name, apparently I was becoming more known.

I small female duck with a purple dress similar to Minnie's' lightly walked towards me, eyeing me with a fierce determination in her look.

_Did I do something wrong?_

I don't recall ever meeting this…umm…duck-person thingy? So I couldn't have upset her. Maybe there's someone else here with my name. I disregarded the duck and continued taking in the scenery around me.

The courtyard of the castle looked almost brand new. The debris that had littered the ground was cleared and the grass had been replaced with fresh roots and dirt. The sculptures, unfortunately, were destroyed beyond recognition. So new seedlings were planted in hopes they could be formed into the wondrous sculptures they were envisioned to become.

"Hey! I was calling you!"

"Huh?" I turned to the fuming female duck that had been marching toward my direction before. Apparently she _was_ calling me…

"Umm…I'm sorry. I thought you were calling someone else?" My statement came out more like a question as a sheepishly blushed from my ignorance.

"Well your name is Hikari right? That's what Queen Minnie told me…" She stared at me, ushering me for a response.

"Umm…yes. It's just…I, umm…haven't met you before?" I wanted to scream at her to get off my back, but she looked like she was a royal member of this world, therefore one of Minnie's friends.

_Just stay calm. Don't be rash. She's Minnie's friend._

"That's exactly why I came over here!" She held out her hand, gesturing for a handshake "My name is Daisy. I'm a good friend of his majesty and the Queen. I'm also engaged to the mage of this castle." Her demeaning attitude completely disappeared and was replaced by a warm and welcoming smile.

"Oh…nice to meet you!" I shook her hand, careful not to squeeze too hard since my strength could easily overpower her small hand.

"So you were the one who helped Riku save this castle?" She backed away and took a deep bow, her head looking down at the ground. "I am eternally grateful for your help, Miss Hikari."

"Oh…umm…please, you don't have to bow. It was nothing!" It wasn't 'nothing'. I've experienced hell, _again_. But I can't let that show. For now, I just need to struggle to bottle everything up again.

_Just LIE Hikari…LIE, LIE, LIE!_

"Well, I wanted to at least show you my gratitude. Ever since my Donald left to search for the King, I've been in fear that he'll return to…well, what the castle _used _to look like." Her cheerful tone immediately dissipated, holding a great amount of grief and sorrow in her eyes.

"Donald? That duck-guy who traveled with Sora?"

"Donald is not some…some… DUCK-guy!" I reeled back at her angered tone. Crap, I probably could have said that better…

"I'm sorry. I meant that…umm…magic casting guy…who traveled with Sora. Is that your…fiancé?"

"Mmm hmm!" Her anger completely left her face at the mention of her fiancé. I can briefly remember Leon and the others talking about Sora and his companions. They always spoke of them as some distant relatives whose visits were always cherished and memorable. Then some other girl named Kairi. I only remember her because our names are similar. From what the gang at Radiant Garden had told me, Sora and Kairi were a little more than, umm, "friends".

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I must attend to something. Please enjoy your stay, and get well soon! Thank you again!" She left with much gusto; with an enlightened wave and a smirk on her face.

"Oh…what? Umm, you're welcome." I felt bad about ignoring her for my mental rant, but I was stuck on one fact that was secretly picking at my memories of my times in Radiant Garden…

No one knew anything about Riku. I could only remember his name coming up a few times, but it was always in conjunction with Sora and his friends. The only attributes I knew of him was that he had silver hair and was best friends with Sora. Apparently Sora had been…searching for him or something like that? Much like Riku's trying to do for Sora right now.

"He's…still a stranger…"

"Who's a stranger?"

"Gah!" Ow…that hurt. A strong hand gripped my elbow, lifting me up to a standing position. I was so deep in thought that I tripped at the sudden question from…from…

"Riku!" Oh crap! Oh crap! OH CRAP! Did he hear what I said? Does he know I was talking about him? No, he can't read minds; at least I don't think he can. Calm down, he probably didn't hear you. He just asked another question.

"Who's a stranger?" Again…CRAP!

"Oh, umm, no one's a stranger! I was saying…he's a…straggler! Yeah! That guy over there was straggling behind those other workers." I started walking faster on instinct, hoping to get out of this awkward situation. Crap, he almost caught me talking about him!

Ha, alright. If you say so." He obviously didn't believe me, since he laughed and added thick sarcasm to his words, but he didn't question further.

I slowed down, giving Riku the chance to walk next to me. I studied his face for a while longer, seeing if there was a hint of lying questioning beneath his now stoic expression. He looked like he had totally dropped the subject.

I internally smiled to myself.

_That was such great lying there Hikari_

' Lying…is that what I've come to be now; a liar? And why did I have to lie to Riku? I could have said that he really _was _a stranger to me. But that would mean I was showing interest in his past. Who am I to ask about someone's past life when I constantly keep mine in the shadows?

"So…umm…" I looked up to Riku, he was watching a pair of giant chickens repair the wallpaper along the hallway we were walking.

"I swear I'll never get used to that." I muttered under my breath.

"Used to what?"

"Oh, sorry, just seeing giant animals walking around like people. It's just still, new to me I guess."

"Ha, don't worry; it's usually weird to everyone at first." He smiled lightly as while looking forward toward the far away end of the hallway.

"Were you…umm… well was it weird to you at first?" I felt nervous asking about him, but I really, _really _wanted to know more about this guy. I still don't know why, but the want to know was there so why bother fighting it when I was fighting so many other things inside me…

Riku's smile faded for a moment and his eyes casted downward towards his feet. The mood had drastically changed. "I guess I was. I don't really remember what I felt when I first met a someone like these people."

"Oh…" I took in his sad posture. I guess the question wasn't something he wanted to answer "…I'm sorry. I was just curious."

"No!" I jolted back. Fuck, he scared me again. "You don't have to be sorry. I just can't remember what my exact thoughts were about first meeting Mickey. I guess I didn't really pay attention to him being an animal."

I don't know why, but I couldn't control my laughter. I put a hand to my mouth to muffle the noise, but I couldn't help let a few chuckles out.

"Ha-ha, you didn't notice? Who doesn't notice that they're talking to a giant animal? That's…" I laughed a little harder just picturing Riku talking a giant mouse with a calm face "…that's so weird!"

We stopped walking, while I caught my breath from laughing. It felt good to laugh once in a while, even though I rarely laughed. But that wasn't my fault; my life just didn't offer enough opportunities for laughter.

"Are you done?" Riku pretended to be annoyed while I laughed again at his fake emotion. His smirk planted itself back on his face and the previous atmosphere returned.

"Yes, yes! I believe I've regained some control. I don't know why but just picturing you not reacting to a giant animal talking to you was just funning."

"Well, like I said, I didn't really notice." His smirk remained as we continued down the hallway. Workers bumped into us, but immediately followed with an apology and a quick "thank you" rant for saving their home.

I didn't even notice where we had walked into until another worker bumped into my left arm.

"I'm sorry Miss! I…oh! You…you guys…saved…" The worker didn't even finish his sentence as he bowed deeply offering yet another round of "thank you" statements.

He left quickly out a large set of wooden doors; their wooden frame was splitting from…wetness? That's when I finally took in our surroundings.

Double wooden doors on each side of the room, table sets and broken chair pieces stacked in piles, damp wallpaper and flooring, and burn marks on the ground.

This is one of the dining halls; this is where Arashi was…

O0o0o0o0o0o

Riku P.O.V.

I yanked Hikari out of the room as fast as I could. She just starred blankly at the floor where the burn markings had failed to touch. It took me a while to realize that this is where the Organization member showed up; where Hikari had met her brother.

I didn't allow her to linger there, because I could see how her face began to lose all color and life. So I grabbed her hand and lead her out of the room as quickly as possible, to the nearest exit. She didn't even resist as I nearly dragged her out of the damp and ruined room.

We began walking without a word down a darker and less lively hallway. The rumble and damage to the walls and decorations had yet to be cleaned, so I'm guessing this hallway hadn't been walked through and inspected yet.

I took quick and subtle glances toward Hikari. She remained silent the whole time, and her eyes never left the ground. Her focus remained on the flooring in front of her.

Damn, and just when she was showing signs of happiness. Wait, why was I sad? That room held no horrible memory for me, except for the fact that another Organization member had been created, but I should be my same self; which isn't a happy and carefree self anyway. Still, Hikari's sadness is obvious, but why am I struggling?

I want to help her, that's why. I can't stand seeing others suffer like this because of these _creatures _that seem to ruin everyone's lives.

"Hikari…are you alright?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to force her into opening up; I severely doubt anyone would ever open up to me, but I couldn't just keep walking in silence. The least I could do was offer some comfort. I just hope I don't screw up and make things worse. Since I'm good at doing that…

"Oh…" She lowered her head and brushed some hair out of her face, only having it fall back down and shield her face again. We kept walking, but our steps were more careful, since the ground was still ruined with armor pieces and window glass.

"…I'm good now. I'm sorry about…well…you know." She cleared her throat before discreetly ridding her face of tears, playing it off as a simple scratch of her temples.

"You don't need to be sorry." I said it more like a command, while starring at the still ruined wall of the corner we rounded. But I calmed my visage; the intensity immediately left my face when I looked at Hikari. Her expression was a mixture of hurt and surprised. I instantly regretted my tone.

_Damn, I knew I wasn't meant to do this…_

"I'm sorry. It's just…" I absently rubbed the back of his neck, struggling for words "…these Heartless and Nobodies…they just mess with me sometimes."

I turned my head forward escaping her gaze. I noticed that she would turn her head and open her mouth to offer a reply, but she never spoke.

I didn't expect anything else; I only hurt her more by yelling at her. Damn, what's wrong with me? Can I seriously not ever help anyone properly? I'm I really born for darkness?

"My brother…" I shot my head towards Hikari, she was staring forward as we enter a shinning hall that allowed the afternoon light enter through the dozens of windows. "…that person…he was…well…he looked like my brother."

We stopped at the edge of the hallway, just before the light could shine on us. The hall was empty, but the damage was so little that the room looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Tables still perched fancy flowers and vases, the windows weren't cracked and their cleanliness diffracted the sun's light, forming small rainbows in the air. The only sign of destruction was the trail of scratch marks on the floor, leading from one end of the room to our current standing place.

"He was standing right there Riku. But he didn't know me?" She began crying, but her voice didn't break. This time she appeared less vulnerable and broken. But her tears still evoked something in me, anger at the Organization member, and compassion, since I knew how it felt to lose to darkness.

"Riku, why didn't he know me? Why was he like that?" She turned to me, watery eyes full of questioning and hurt. She lost control and brought her hands to her eyes as her body shivered from the onslaught of tears.

I didn't say anything, since my mind couldn't think of anything to say. But like before, I did what my body naturally wanted to do.

I reached out and gently brushed tears from Hikari's face. Her hands left her face, but her eyes were squeezed shut. Her body continued to tremble as soft sobs shook her body. I kept retracing the same trail along her cheek. I couldn't say anything, but I needed, no, I _wanted _to do something for this girl. So what if I was affiliated with darkness, the least I could do right no was ease some of her pain.

But what about the future? Can I continue to act as a form of comfort? Am I even offering comfort now, or am I just making her emotions all the more painful?

My rant ended as Hikari lunged forward and tightly hugged my body, burying her face in my chest. Out of shock, my hands hung limply at my side; my mouth hung open. I wasn't prepared for this.

Her sobs continued as her hands gripped my vest. I just starred at the top of her head, confused that she was…hugging me. All doubt temporarily left me and that reoccurring want to help this girl erupted out of my being, stronger than before to the point where fighting it was impossible.

Slowly, I reached my arms around her, careful that I might hurt her wounded body. I felt almost frightened with my choice, but my arms were going to act on their own anyway so might as well go with it.

I lightly hugged her back, making sure I made no contact with her skin. Her vest collapsed in at my arms pressure as it made soft scratching noises as my arms rubbed against it.

Hikari continued to cry, but she showed no signs of struggle, no sign of breaking away. She only gripped my vest tighter, scrunching the fabric with strong fists that I could scarcely feel through the yellow fabric.

"Thank you, Riku." Unconsciously my grip tightened around her as the sun prepared its climb to the top of the sky, sending the last bit of rainbows into the dark hallway.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Hikari P.O.V.

Riku and I were showered with the most expensive of elixirs and potions from other shops and Moogles located in the neighboring town of the Castle. So our recovering went from a few days of rest, to just a few hours.

As the day progressed, Riku made it clear to Minnie that he was going to leave tonight, seeing that his wounds were near complete recovery and the Cornerstone was showing no signs of weakness. Security was up to a maximum, and mage's and knights of all shapes and sizes gathered to protect the castle from any further attack.

But as the Castle's future looked bright, my was still uncertain.

What now? I'm sure Riku doesn't want me with him on this journey. I mean come on, after everything that's happened I look pretty pathetic now.

I paced the Gummi Ship floor. Wondering how I should plead my case to Riku.

Ok, I'll just explain that I usually don't cry like a baby and mope around. And that I'm just in shock over the turn of events. Yeah! And if that doesn't work then I'll just prove my strength and show off some moves I've saved only for the toughest of battles. Then he'll have to consider bringing me along for my fighting skills.

"Hikari?"

"Ye-…Umm…yes?" Riku was standing at the door of the ship, giving me a weird look. "Ahh, sorry, I was just thinking. Umm, listen Riku…" I felt nervous. What if he's already made up his mind? I mean, I'm not in the best emotional state to do some hard core reasoning.

"Yeah…"

"Umm…well, I was just…I mean…I wanted to…l" Fuck! Why is this so hard? My whole plan! I completely forgot everything I was planning to say and just stared at Riku who was leaning against the doors frame.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to know if I could still go with you?" I blurted out in a rapid mush of words. Well that sounded stupid…

"What?"

"I wanted to know if I could still go with you?" My voice was soft, too soft. But I couldn't control it. Crap, he's already made up his mind to take me back to Radiant Garden.

Well I won't let him. I'm going on this journey.

"Hikari, I was…"

"Listen Riku. I know after everything that's has made you question me, and I can't really answer those questions. But I know I can take on this journey and…"

"Hikari, I…"

" My fighting skills are up to par with yours. And if you don't think so then I can show you some moves that I've only used in dire situations. But they'll be the full extent of my power. And I'm not messy, nor loud, and I'll keep out of your way, and I know how to operate the Gummi Ship so I can drive it if you get tired, and I good at directions and I'll…

"Hikari! Stop!" I stopped my rant mid sentence. And just stared at Riku…who was…laughing?

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious! I want to go! What can I do to convince you?"

"You can't do anything, Hikari." Riku was still chuckling, while my heart nearly plunged lower than I thought it could ever go. I knew it. I knew he didn't want me tagging along. Damn it! How am I supposed to help others now? I can't ignore the fact that I'm not the only one who's suffering.

"Why can't I do anything?" My anger was close to erupting out of my body. I was prepared to even fight my way onto this journey.

"Because…I was always going to let you come."

"Huh?" I must have made a pretty stupid face, because Riku began to laugh again.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I let you?"

"Well, I just thought…I just…"

"Hikari…" Riku pushed himself off the door frame to walk over to where I was standing. "…I'm not stopping you from coming… If that's what you're questioning."

"Re-Really?" I didn't even know what I was doing before it happened. For the second time today I lunged forward and hugged this silver haired boy. But I couldn't help it…I was so damn happy! That is, until my happiness was replaced by embarrassment.

I shot myself away from Riku, and retreated toward the Gummi Ship door. My heart was beating at such a fast pace that I thought it was going to explode, not because of my recent agony, but because of…Riku?

"Umm…thank you Riku. I'm going to go get ready then." I didn't even have anything to get ready with. But I couldn't stay in the ship anymore. I needed to run, jump, hit something, anything to release my joy. And also to quiet down my odd, stirring emotions.

"Alright…" Riku's voice faded away quickly as I ran to find a place where I could privately release my new found relief and happiness.

_Yeah…I'll be able to hide my emotions. Things like this will only make it easier._

Oh, if only I could completely believe this.

0o0o00o0o0

"Oh, Riku, Hikari. I made sure to pack extra potions and ethers into your ship. Oh and I gave you some more blankets! Oh and I put some snacks and food in the pantry. Ah! And I also…"

"Minnie, I get it. You took care of things. Thank you." Minnie had made sure to stock our Gummi Ship with all the supplies necessary for travel, since Riku didn't really prepare for travel, on account this ship was, well, stolen.

"Please be safe Riku, you too Hikari. Look out for one another." I knelt down carefully; amazed that the mega potions Minnie had offered me had miraculously healed most of my sore body. The only signs of battle were small scars and scratches and a few sore muscles.

"Thank you Minnie. I've truly fallen in love with this place, and I hope you consider me as a friend." I held my hand out for her to shake, but she ignored it and instead hugged my crouched body.

"Of course we're friends! How could I not consider you my friend! You've done so much, that I think "friend" is too small of a word for you!" We hugged for a while longer before Minnie moved on to talk to Riku.

"Riku…I know you'll find Mickey and the others. Don't lose hope." With that, she hugged Riku and returned to Daisy's side, along with other Castle residents who wanted to see us off.

At first I was worried if Riku even wanted me to remain on this journey, considering of what's happened. But he never pushed me away. I was too relieved for words. I get to help others.

But this will only deepen my wounds, with all the new hardships I'm bound to face. But I'm confident I can contain my emotions. I've done it before, so I should be able to do it a second time…

"Ready?" Riku motioned his head towards the Gummi Ship. Its new paint job looked pretty kick ass. Plus, Minnie dug up some Gummi Ship parts that weren't being used. Now our ship had a better flight system and stronger shields. The extra laser didn't hurt either.

The Gummi Ship roared to life when Riku initiated the take off count down. Two hamster like creatures appeared on a screen built into the dashboard. Again, I'll never get used to these talking animals.

The Gummi Ship hovered over the ground before Riku navigated the ship to jet away from the Castle and finally away from the whole world itself.

"So where are we gunna go?" I studied the dashboard in from of my own seat, trying to memorize what each switch and button activated. Riku had to explain it to me about three times…so I didn't want to screw up.

"I don't know. I guess just wait until the Gummi Ship picks up another reading. For now, we can only gather clues as to where everyone is." I don't know why, but every time Riku used words like "we" or "our", it made me blush, madly. After that moment in that hall, where the light was shinning beautifully over the walls, I felt more…more…hell; I don't know how I felt. This connection seemed to bloom within me, but I was too confused to understand what it meant.

"Whoa! Watch out Riku!" The Gummi Ship spun to its right flank as it nearly missed an on slaughter of incoming Heartless Ships.

"Eat this!" I pushed the missile button rapidly as Riku navigated through a line of blue Heartless ships, easily destroying the weak vessels.

"Hold on!" Riku pulled on the steering wheel, sending the ship at a ninety degree angle, scaling a wall that the Heartless had planted as a barricade.

The ship reached the top of the wall and continued to move in its previous direction, but our vision was filled with countless more walls and Heartless ships.

"Crap, look at all that." I examined the controls one last time, igniting all the lasers so they could track their next targets.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. _"Go!" Riku pushed the ship forward at a hyper speed, easily dodging any ships the missiles and lasers had failed to shoot.

I turned the missiles to our right side, shooting down strange green Heartless that shot pink triangular missiles as they spun their torsos around like a top. Several Heartless appeared and launched rings of energy that caused major damage to the ships body.

"Gotcha!" I activated the two lasers on the ship, which tracked down the orange and the one red Heartless producing the rings shooting towards the ship. The orange ones instantly disappeared, but the red Heartless remained.

_This one's stronger than the others._

I held the missile button down, while aiming the launcher against the Heartless' body. The thing blew up with only a few more hits.

Suddenly I was nearly thrown out the window as we were hit from behind by a giant, spider like Heartless.

"What is that?" I pointed all weapons to the rear and shot every one of them against the enemy.

It had four…legs…I guess, which formed an "X" like figure. Each leg emanated its own missiles, building up even more damage against the ship.

"Shoot the legs first! I'll keep us away from the missiles as best I can!" Riku yelled at me as he eyed the rear monitor while gripping the wheel even tighter.

"Alright!" I launched everything this ship had, as slowly but surely, each arm began to fall. Once the last arm blew, I thought this was going to be an easy kill. But the fucking thing started launching hundreds of small red beaded missiles from its core. The screen was riddled with red that I just decided to shoot at every possible inch I could.

" How the…I can't see anything!" A loud banging noise could be heard, while Riku blasted the Gummi Ship forward with the help of recovery orbs gathered from the Heartless.

The Heartless blew apart before careening down ward toward a yellow and orange prism wall below the flying ship. All I could make out was dust and sparks from where the Heartless pounded against the solid brick.

The ship safely made its way out of the failed blockade and we continued to cruise in a vast nothingness.

"Well…that was…so…awesome. Ha, did you see that Heatless? It was huge! But we smashed it!" My heart was racing from the new found adrenaline. Who knew barely escaping death aboard a Gummi Ship would be so…lively.

"Well that won't be the last of them. Heartless usually appear in great number like that, and they resort to smashing into the ship if it means we'll blow." Riku kept his head forward, studding the surrounding nothingness of the intricate universe.

"But we'll be ready." I said rather confidently. I wasn't going to let a bunch of Heartless ships bring me down.

"Yeah…we make a pretty good team." I blushed, turning my head away from Riku. He thought we made a good team? _We… _Why did that feel so good to hear? I mean, better sounding than it usually should.

"Yeah…I guess we do."

_Beep. Beep. _"We're picking up a reading." I inspected the navigation screen, waiting for the ship to show the scanning results of the upcoming world.

"There…" Riku examined the word before making the ship increase in speed.

"Whoa…what world is that?" Riku turned the auto pilot on before preparing all travel supplies for when we disembarked onto the new world.

"Its called…

* * *

******Again im soooo sorry for the late update and i really hope you guys reading this wont give up on my story. Believe me, i will NEVER EVER abandon this story untill that 'complete' button can finally be pushed. ****PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Bam! Cliffy! haha sorry but i just felt like ending like that sorry! teehee  
ok tell me what you think...this was my first time writing a chapter with mainly ramonce and less action so im kinda iffy about this chap..._sugestions to the next world are also welcomed!_**

**OK so rememeber *******ALL YOU GHOST READERS PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! seriously it really helps me cause im still kinda new to this site and i really love the suggestions/ comments**  
**and all those who have reviewed please keep them comming! Love'n your reviews! ^_^**

**WANT COOKIES? Just need to push button bellow! DO IT! NOW! PLEASE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**im soo sorry for this uber late update. School has been sucking me dry for the last three months so alot of my activities were put on a standstill -_-" but im back and im planning to update at least one more chapter before the break is over. I just need some feedback/reviews please?**

**Also i HUGE shout out to KhAeL who made an AMAAAZING fanart of my OC Hikari. Thank you so much! If you guys wanna check it out just go visit her Deviant Art profile. She has multiple links on her fanfic page ^-^**

**also id like to thank my two best amigas Shadows-Dancing-In-The-Halls and La Pequena Escorpion for there constant support and inspiration! **

**I own nothing but my plot and OC Hikari**

* * *

Chapter 10

Riku P.O.V.

"It's called…it's called…jungle…something jungle." Hopefully that answer would satisfy her question.

"Something jungle? Seriously?" Of course it wouldn't satisfy as a good answer. Honestly, I don't even know if this world has a name. The 'jungle' title was only a guess, being that the entire world was like a giant tree. The only visible landmarks I could make out through the trees were a waterfall and a rather large tree house.

"Well, I guess the name isn't that important. Do you remember anything else about this place?" She sounded a little more hopeful as she squinted her eyes at the still distant world. She beamed when the Gummi Ship indicated that the world was closing in for landing.

Damn, if only I could remember something about this world, but I was drawing a blank. This place seemed so familiar yet I couldn't remember anything. Not one person, not one distinguished landmark entered my mind.

Without a clear idea of the land I had no idea where to begin my search, nor did I know if this place contained people to help against enemies. Even the types of Heartless and Nobodies were a mystery. In truth I was just as lost as Hikari at this moment. Just like her I knew nothing of what I was getting into.

_Sigh. _Hikari unconsciously sighed while starring out of the Gummi Ship window, her elbows propped against the dashboard. The pressure created caused multiple buttons to ring at an annoyingly high volume. A quick jab from her elbows instantly silenced the ringing alarms. She looked almost entranced by the approaching world.

"Riku." She said blandly, but I swear I could hear some frustration. Her gaze never fell from the window.

"Yeah?" Suddenly I felt it very appropriate to become extremely interested in the steering wheel. However, I knew what Hikari was going to say and pretending to ignore was just useless.

"You didn't answer my question." Man I am a psychic or what?

This time her annoyance was apparent in her speech. She twisted her head in her palms and focused in on me. I on the other hand scrambled for some information on this world. The familiarity was killing me but I was a hundred percent sure I've seen this place before.

Did I travel here? Or maybe someone described it to me? Perhaps a dream…

I clenched my jaw in concentration, but it was no use. I was still at a loss. Angry I again strangled the wheel, not caring if Hikari noticed me or not. But I couldn't help but take a glance…

She was still…observing, but she dropped her irritated stare and settled with a mixed expression; eyes between a harsh glare and a concentrated assessment. Her gaze traveled to the wheel in front of me and remained there for a few seconds longer than expected. That's when I realized that my knuckles were turning white from my growing frustration.

As a reflex I immediately changed my mood. As much as I just wanted berate myself over forgetfulness I couldn't stand to reveal this emotion. Just imagining myself…I looked so pathetic. As quick and subtle as I could I loosened my grip and played it of as a reflex any driver would do. Hopefully she would buy it because I wasn't prepared to explain how I failed to remember _how _I recognized this world yet couldn't remember a damn thing about it.

The shuffling of fabric caught my attention again as Hikari retracted her body to a stretching pose. Awkwardly she stretched her arms, creating weird angles and bends that caused multiple pops and cracks to sound off. She bent back suddenly to fully stretch out her legs, but this almost made the chair snap back from the extreme pressure made.

"I'll let you think. Just…relax." Was all she said before slowly slouching back into her chair. Her knees made a loud 'pop' noise before she completely fell dormant. She pushed her head back into the chair making an uncomfortable looking position with her neck. However strange the stretching she finally found peace and left me to think.

Memories of past travels and experiences instantly flooded my mind, but they were all useless. I needed to pin point that rare moment. Memories of my first traveling days reoccurred over and over.

Memories filled with that person's presence.

No it couldn't have been with _her. _The time spent with that witch didn't offer the opportunity to sight see and take notes on different worlds. With Maleficent…the only things I had to remember were her orders and directions. Everything else was thrown to the back of my mind once I deemed it useless, which was almost everything in regards to world layout, inhabitants and especially names.

I knew it wasn't during those times. Everything from those months spent in darkness were quickly becoming a blur. However I couldn't forget the pain I had caused, the turmoil I put everyone through. All because I became so obsessed to rescue Kairi and ultimately ruin my best friend…

As if on cue, Ansem's face appeared in my mind, distorted in all too familiar darkness. His evil smirk almost sent me into a rage; like he wanted me to slash his mouth clean off. The face of what overtook my body, the face of a malicious killer who wanted nothing more than to destroy Sora and all the light that seemed attracted to him.

"Riku?" I tried to shake all thoughts from my mind. I have to remember when I saw this world. But my previous thoughts can't be restrained; instead they seam to grow as if wanting to mock me. Ansem's face reappears again, only this time I'm not possessed to battle. Instead his face appears as my own image. The image of when I was living with Ansem the Wise and Naminé.

I heard Hikari seethe air from her nose before resorting back to the window. The world was growing closer so I decided to slow our speed. The last thing we want is crashing the only source of transportation we had.

Ansem's face slowly faded from my mind. But the memory left its mark and, yet again, I was entranced in thought of past days spent in Ansem's form. Everyday I ran 'errands' for Ansem the Wise, guarding our laboratory and helping out with Naminé.

Those times were still fresh, since they weren't as dismal and discouraging as prior adventures. Quiet moments near Sora's sleeping pod were the one's I misses the most. Times when I could fully reflect and, for once, relax. Something I rarely ever did nor had the opportunity _to do._

-0-0-0-0-

"_What the hell is that Naminé, broccoli?"_

"_No, it's a jungle." Naminé said happily as she repeated the curving motion of her wrist. The drawing immediately filled with green clouds of crayon. Naminé hummed a soothing tune as if repairing a teenage boy's memories was a hobby or something._

"_A jungle?" I wanted to confirm as I slowly approached the girl, taking a stance near her out stretched self. She was always in this room when she did her sketches, being that Sora slept in this room._

"_Yes, this its one of the first worlds Sora visited with Donald and Goofy." Naminé again smiled before putting the paper aside and continuing on another drawing. The set she was creating obviously pertained to the same world, since almost all of her drawings were completely green. _

_First world huh? It hadn't been long since Naminé started repairing Sora's memories. So of course she would be on one of his first worlds._

_I sat down in front of Sora's sleeping pod, bored to no end but also tired from today's battling. Apparently the defense system had some minor flaws. Ansem would have to fix it later._

_The hall was silent, except for the scribbling of Naminé and her colors. She scattered her pictures on the ground, each marking a new chain in Sora's memories repaired. It felt weird examining each creation, knowing that I was basically looking at a cheat sheet of someone else's life._

"_What are these?" I motioned with my head to a couple of drawings. They were the only one's that weren't encompassed in green._

"_That's a camp site Sora walked through several times in this world. And that…" Naminé giggled slightly, adding to my confusion "…that's a tree house!" She smiled but quickly regained composure and silently continued to draw._

"_Tree house?" Of course Sora would remember a tree house in the jungle. He was such a knuckle head. The detail of the tree house was impossible to decipher, since crayon wasn't the best drawing utensil. But the size of the tree house was obvious. It was built into the side of a massive looking tree that looked almost too perfect for the structures form. It was as if the tree was grown to support this building._

_Naminé dished out another drawing, before declaring she only needed one more to complete this world's memories. I nodded in acknowledgement, before accidently crushing a crayon drawn sketch with my boot._

"_Oops…" I picked the picture up, examining its color. This time it consisted entirely of blue's that had huge lumps of color randomly dispersed through out the blue shading. On the top of the picture were green threads of color that stopped just before the blue. It was really weird looking._

"_What is this?" I asked while looking at the drawing harder, thinking that would help._

"_That's a lagoon located in the world. Those are hippos. And vines hanging over the water." Naminé stated as she pointed to each section of the picture "Sora had to use the vines and hippos to get over the lagoon." She smiled in amusement before finishing her last sketch._

_I just stared at the drawing, the events of Sora's past life hitting me hard. To her, these looked like fun and games. But I know that Sora had been through a lot. Yeah, maybe some of it was fun and enjoyable, but I can't forget the fact that all that turmoil could have been avoided if I hadn't succumbed to darkness. Mickey says it's not my fault, but in reality it is and always will be_

_I swiftly got up from my crouched position and walked to Sora's pod. The white spherical structure was the only thing keeping me from seeing my friend. Exhausted I decided to rest, knowing that the next day was going to be a hard one._

"_Good night…Sora."_

"Riku!" I snapped out of my flashback to Hikari's panicked voice. Her hand had clutched my arm so hard that her fingers shook from the force. I was mildly surprised that I had gotten so lost in thought to block out everything happening around me. Then I nearly fell out of my seat in realizing how close the world was now and how fast we were heading towards it.

Quickly I lowered the speed to where the Gummi Ship was practically hovering over the tree line of the world. I could hear branches snap from the weight of the metal contraption.

_Damn. That was too close._

"What the fuck was that Riku! Are you trying to kill us before we even get to see this world!" Hikari yelled as she yanked her hand aggressively away from my arm. Her rage was obvious, but I could sense the fear she was feeling. I wouldn't blame her…I almost killed us.

"I'm sorry. I got lost in thought. I didn't mean to increase the speed." Wow…that sounded stupid.

"Lost in thought? What was so important to where you nearly sent the Gummi Ship to crash into the ground? Huh?" Hikari was breathing hard and gripped the edge of her chair as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.

"I remembered…"

_I remembered when this crazy witch provoked me into darkness which caused my body to be taken over by a Heartless who caused me to nearly kill my best friend, then eventually we were trapped in a castle run by a bunch of Nobodies who erased my best friend's memories which lead me to take the form of the thing I hate most. Oh and also I had to watch over my best friend's body as he slept in recovery mode for his memories that were to be repaired by another Nobody._

"…something about this place." I proceeded to lower the Gummi Ship…slowly…to the jungle floor. The engines churned with the dramatic changes in speed. The metal of the engine creaked as if to scold me for being so careless.

"What did you remember!" Hikari, now, had lost all tones of panic and hostility and excitedly became interested in what I had to say. Her body bounced with the continuing of our decent. Hundreds of branches obscured our view from any further examination of the world. I was only able to pin point certain key places. One being the exact place I wanted to check out first.

"I'll tell you when we land." Hikari reluctantly agreed before continuing her sudden interest in our surroundings. It was as if she had never seen trees before. Weird…

"You seem excited." I said with an amused tone. The way she was presenting herself was a little too entertaining to watch.

"Well I'm sorry." Her sarcasm was thick before being traded out with yet another thrilled tone. "I've never been to a place like this. It's just…exciting knowing that I'm going to learn the layout of this world and all its secrets. Plus I might be able to meet new people. Of course I'll have to help them out but that's not a problem. It's the whole reason I'm here anyways. Oh and also the new enemies will be pretty fun to fight, I just hope they aren't that psychotic. But then again it wouldn't be fun if they weren't. Right Riku? Oh cool! Did you see that? Something just flew by that tree over there!" I laughed at her rant, surprised to see someone get this excited over a new world.

Only just a few minutes ago was this girl screaming at me to get a hold of myself since I almost crashed. Now she's like a kid who was just thrown into a candy store. Giddy for what opportunities awaited her. She must be bi-polar are extremely excited for this…

"You're a little too motivated." I joked as we continued our decent. Hikari only glared before turning back to the window, almost pressed up against the glass.

The Gummi Ship scrapped loudly against another tree. Space quickly diminished as our seemingly small vessel was struggling to find its way down to the dirt floor. I was tempted to use the lasers to blast an opening for us, but these weapons were only to be used on…specific hindrances.

_Thud. Thud. _The Gummi Ship had _finally _made it to a safe landing, although the shell did receive some damage. But nothing major, plus the metal was designed to slowly repair itself when not in use. Hopefully Cid managed to maintain that feature.

The lights to the Gummi Ship gradually dimmed. The dashboard fell to a complete silence and all the controls locked in their current settings. The only source of life from the ship was a small light located over the Gummi Ship hatch. Exactly where Hikari was waiting.

She leaned against the frame with her arms crossed over her chest. It took me a while to realize she was blocking the only exit.

"Ok we've landed. Now tell me what you remember." She said mild curiosity in her words. She stood unmoving, fighting the urge to bust out of the ship I'm sure.

"There's this tree house I want to go to. It should be a good start. Plus, I saw it while coming down and its close." It was only a few minutes away if we kept a steady pace. The only major obstacle was the slope we had to climb in order to get there.

"Tree house?" Her face was full of surprise as she got up from her slanted stance. "Then what are we waiting for?" She left the frame completely and allowed me to exit the ship. The hatch opened with yet another hiss, but the sight of the world was something I've never seen before.

Sure I've travelled to many different places but I've never seen scenery like this. The trees were huge and flush with leaves and branches. The foliage barely let in a fragment of light from the blazing sun over head. Also the tranquility felt was new and exotic. After the Gummi Ship ceased its hiss the only sounds that could be heard were the faint screeches of animals in the canopies and the rustling of branches.

Peaceful.

I jumped down from the Gummi Ship, seeing that the stairs there had broken off. Junk parts…

"This place is so…amazing!" Hikari leaned against the door frame, still examining the new setting around her. She really is excited…

"Here…" I offered my hand for her to come down the ship. That courtesy factor unconsciously coming out.

"Wh-what…are you…doing?" Hikari looked at my hand as if it were on fire or something. I held it out further, confused by her reaction.

"I'll help you down. Come on…" Don't tell me I'm insulting? It's not my fault I've always been like this…since Kairi wasn't the 'active' sort of type I've always unintentionally helped out. Guess its become a habit…

"Oh…th-thanks…" Hikari reached out to grab my hand before leaping off the Gummi Ship. She landed crouched down on one knee a few feet from me "…thanks Riku! But I think I can handle a little leap!" She called over before smiling arrogant smirk.

I forgot that this girl was different. She didn't easily take help from others and was often insulted if the situation ever rose to that. Plus…she definitely wasn't weak. However I still have some restraint to fully trust her. She was strong yes, and she could obviously hold her own in battle but it was that mysterious and unknown qualities about her that put up a huge wall. The most significant moment was when we saw that new Organization member at the castle. She _knew _him or at least recognized him.

There were too many things going on to compose a full explanation. I'll leave it at rest…for now.

"Riku hurry up!" Hikari was already a good ways up the cliff so I ran to catch up. The ground was slightly moist, probably from a recent rain fall.

"Eager aren't we?" I joked.

"Shut up. I've never been to a place like this!" She said while summoning her golden blade in her hands. The slope was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be to climb, so we were using our weapons to clear paths and as leverage in tight situations. "I want to learn everything about this world. All of its secrets I want revealed!" She said while clenching her free hand. She was more determined than I thought.

"Why?" I blurted out before I could restrain myself. Damn, I guess my curiosity was sparked.

"Why? Well because I want to help this place. That the reason I wanted to come on this journey. So I could help places like this. Even if I don't know much I'm ready to learn. I just…wanna help." She said with a small smile.

The squawking of vibrant colored birds echoed through the forest canopy, ruffling small branches near our heads. Leaves cascaded around us, almost like green spectrums of rain.

"But…" Hikari suddenly said, interrupting the growing silence. "…I've got another reason to be here now." She said while smiling in my direction. I just continued climbing confused by her statement.

"What's that?" She clicked mouth before giving another smirk.

"Well aren't you here to find your friends. As long as I'm here why don't I just…you know…help." Her voice almost died down at the end of her sentence but I managed to understand through the quiet of the jungle.

_She want to help me?_

"So you're willing to help strangers so easily?" It wasn't a humorous question. Honestly I had been surrounded by selfish people who never really took the time to help others. This quality, to me, was rare in a person. Especially with the universe we live in.

"Or course! Everyone deserves a helping hand." Her cheerful tone was still apparent but I noticed how her presence continued to become more crestfallen. Geez, she's a confusing mix of emotions. "We…we'll find your friends Riku." This time I barely caught her voice as a sudden shake in the canopies above caused a flurry of leaves and branches to fall.

"Yeah…" Was the only reply I could offer. The feeling of knowing I wasn't in this alone took a greater toll than I thought. Honestly I knew this journey was going ot be a long one, but just hearing Hikari's compliance...it felt strange.

Ignoring he series of odd emotions, I jerked my head in the direction of the tree house above the steepening slope.

"We better hurry." I said before summoning my Keyblade and slashing away a huge bush. Hikari followed suit and slashed an arc that expanded the opening created.

"Let's go!"

-0-0-0-0-

Hikari P.O.V.

"Holy…this place if freaking huge! This isn't a tree house its…a mansion!" When Riku said tree house I pictured a small wooden platform in a little dinky tree. Something that could be easily be torn down with one swipe of my blade. Instead I'm faced with this...huge structure.

"Ha, sorry I forget to say it's a little bigger than most tree houses." Riku teased before proceding to walk along a path to the house's entrance. Wooden boards were nailed in the ground to give us better leverage.

"Who built this place?" I asked amazed with the grandness of wood. But on closer inspection I could tell this place was hand made and very old. The wood was uneven as well as rotting, and the netting under the tree house was tattered and weak looking.

"I don't know." Riku said before taking his Keyblade of his back. He stopped walking and turned to face me, a serious expression in his eyes. "This place is still unknown to me. So I can't tell you what enemies we might face. For now…let's just be extra wary." With that his blade became a sinister black before returning to its normal sheen.

"Alright." I said, dying down the glow of my blade too. The last thing I want is my blade giving us away. Surprise attacks always guaranteed victory. Or at least they always have _before._

Quietly we further approached the structure. The anxiety in me was nearly bubbling over, still feeling the effects of travel on my body. Exciting…but also very scary and foreign.

I took the opportunity to take in every detail about this place. The netting under the tree house was the only thing that stopped you from splattering into the jungle below, that is, if you fell. A small platform extended around the entire structure, acting like a patio. There was also a boat that hung precariously above the jungle air. Why someone would hang a boat there I have no idea.

"Safe keeping I guess."

"Huh?" Shit…spoke my thoughts again.

"Nothing." I whispered before signaling to go further. Riku gave me a confused look before jumping onto the patio platform of the tree house. The wood creaked slightly from the weight, but it felt sturdier than it looked.

I looked through the window, searching for any signs of movement or life, but it was empty. Well empty of life, it was filled with al sorts of crap. Boxes were stacked everywhere along the walls, shards of glass and wood littered the floors, and drapery from the curtains were shredded everywhere.

"What happened here?" It looked like a serious battle had taken place. I unconsciously held my blade tighter.

_Are we too late?_

"It happened a long time ago. You can see the dust." I jumped at how close Riku's voice was. He was leaning to the right of me, looking through the square piece of glass above my own.

"Oh-okay." My heart nearly blew up there for a second. But was it cause of the tree house's condition or…

No. It couldn't be. I'm just anxious of this new world that's all.

We went inside the tree house, ready for anything that could pop out. But there was nothing. The only movement that I could detect was the swaying of the burgundy curtains from the wind.

"It's empty." I said a little disappointed that there was no one to save and nothing to fight.

Riku rested his blade along his shoulders. He has a look that reflected my own disappointment. "I guess we'll just have to keep searching." He said, walking along the floor scanning for any clue he could find.

I searched too, but the place was a mess! There wasn't one step I could take without stepping on a broken piece of glass or nearly fall through a hole. A loud crunching noise caught my attention when I placed my foot over a bundle of fabric.

I carefully lifted the material, curious as to what the lump under this blanket was. To my surprise a lovely looking picture from was nearly flushed into the floor's wood. I scrapped the frame out with my blade only breaking it in half.

"Oops." If I thought the picture frame was nice, the picture inside was absolutely beautiful. A family of three starred out into my eyes. The parents had a serious expression, yet I could see the love and compassion they held. The infant in the woman's eyes was too adorable for words. I'd never seen eyes that big.

"Hey Riku…look at..." _BAM! _My sentence was cut short and my vision went blurry. Something hit me hard in the side, flinging me off my feet.

"Hikari!" I tried to get up, but my head spun from impact.

"What…the hell…" That's when a loud screech filled the air, instantly making my vision return to normal. The clash of Riku blade could be heard along with the screeching of some…cat!

"Bastard…cat." It was definitely a Heartless. Its fur was a golden yellow but the darkness surrounding it morphed the color into a dirty smoke cloud. The Heartless emblem glowed on its chest, while its eyes were not that of any ordinary animal's. They were an intense gold…and full of evil.

The cat collided with Riku, only to be thrown back by his backslash. The cat screeched in pain as it collided into a heap of barrels. It pounced back onto its feet, baring its sharp claws into the wood. Dark liquid sludge dripped from its fangs; since its mouth hung lose from broken hinges.

Disgusting thing…

It dashed about the tree house at such an incredible speed that I almost became dizzy in trying to keep up with it. It used its claws to latch onto the wood, giving it the ability to jump at a complete horizontal motion from the banisters above.

"What the…" I had enough; I slashed my blade in a vertical motion. The light missed the feline, but I finally got its attention. Unconsciously I slipped the picture into my short pocket, before launching myself at the animal.

Its claws rang against my blade as the metal blocked the attack. Its head viciously snapped at my own as it struggled to overcome my own weight by pushing its body down on the blade.

"Ha…fell for it." I focused my magic into the metal, secreting a stinging glow right into the enemie's throat. It riled back in pain as it raced around the tree house once again, struggling to ease the light's magical sting.

It dashed about the room before crashing back into Riku this time. He successfully blocked the attack, but the feline couldn't have picked a better place to fight. The weight of the two was to much and the floor gave way. They fell to the lose netting below.

"Shit! Riku!" I jumped down to the ropes, panic rose in my stomach. Did they fall? If they did then Riku… "Riku!"

Thankfully, they were still on the nets, but relief never took hold of me. The ropes were harder to fight and defend on. The Heartless had the disadvantage, since it had two more legs to worry about getting tangle in the ropes. However, it was to fast to get tangled in the netting.

It jumped vigorously against the ropes, bouncing off the tree house's bottom only to create a wave of netting. Riku was struggling to maintain his footing, and eventually one of his legs fell through.

I ran towards Riku, knowing that this was the moment the feline was waiting for. But I wasn't fast enough, and the cat launched itself into Riku's tangled form. "Riku! Look out!"

The clash of metal against teeth echoed through the jungle. Riku managed to block the cat's claws while twisting his arms in an awkward pose behind his back. But that wouldn't last long.

"Take this!" I screamed while sending a line of light into the cats frame. The attack ripped through the netting allowing Riku to release his leg and get to sturdier netting. The cat rolled to a stop a few yards away. A little more force and it would have definitely fallen.

"Watch out." Riku said as the cat slowly rose from its fallen position. "Get ready." Suddenly the Heartless roared at an ear deafening volume. I cringed in pain, since my hands couldn't really cover my ears right now.

The cat turned to face us, this time its fur was completely engulfed in darkness, no visible gold at all. Its mouth still hung broken, but the sludge secreted became more thick and toxic looking.

It pounced, and I mean it really pounced! It flew all the way toward Riku and I in just one single bound. This was it…its full power.

The cat scratched vigorously at our feet, hoping to tangle us up again.

"This is it!" Riku said before sending the cat flying into the under wood of the tree house. It hissed in pain, but immediately got up from the blow. It ran circles around us, jumping off of anything it landed its feet on. I think it jumped off of plain air at one point, but its speed made its legs look like a blur.

"Damn it!" I screamed before ending up back to back with Riku. It was playing with us now, seeing what move we were going to make or waiting for our legs to become tangled in the net below us.

"Lets end this." Riku said motioning to patch of dirt the feline continuously jumped from.

"Alright!" I pushed off of Riku's back and launched my body into the Heartless' path. It roared with pleasure, thinking that it finally had me. Idiot…it did remember there were two of us right?

_Boom! _The cat went flying further out into the net with a blow from Riku's Keyblade. This time the cat struggled to recover, but slowly its body began to rise. Damn it, this thing just didn't give up.

The cat returned to its feet, but this time it didn't move. It only stood, entranced over our bodies. Riku carefully walked back to my side above more tattered rope. Some snaps and tears could be heard but they were ignored. My focus was on this nasty thing in front of us.

_Snap. _The cat stepped back, one foot at a time, its eyes never leaving our own. On reflex, both Riku and I took a step forward, ready to finish this little kitty off. Obviously it had given up. I couldn't blame it; it was inevitable from the start.

_Snap. Rip. Snap. _The cat backed away further on the rope, hissing every time we took a step forward. Its ears became flat against its head, a clear sign that it was…well…scarred. Stupid weak Heartless. Just like any other creature, this one battled for one thing only. But it wasn't going to get my heart. Nor anyone else's…

_SNAP! _We were completely out on the rope before the Heartless stopped its retreat. Instead it began to advance, quickly! Before we could calculate what was going on the cat leapt in the air. Riku and I sent our attacks flying, darkened tendrils travelling along beams of light. But the cat disappeared in mid flight, leaving only a puff of darkness in the air.

"What?"

"Huh?" Bother Riku and maintained our fighting stance. What the fuck? That thing just left? Poof, gone! Gah! This was so frustrating! After all that, the thing just fled!

_SNAP! SNAP! _Suddenly the ropes beneath us began to slack, breaking in multiple places and flying out to the jungle below. Our added weight, created a huge sink hole where we were standing.

That's what it was doing while running around. The rips and tears in the rope were strategically placed to create a circle around our current position. Damn it!

"Hold on!" Riku screamed before the ropes fully collapsed under our feet. The circular sheet created hung limply by only a foot length of rope. I clutched to the net, praying that the rope held long enough for us to climb back up to the top.

_Snap! _Oh yeah, I forgot things never really go my way.

* * *

**Some well developed feed back and reveiws would be very much appreciated ^-^ pm me or review please!**

**oh and if you couldn't figure it out they are in the KH1 world Deep Jungle. Why? Well it was one of the first worlds Sora went to...and plus i love Tarzan. More to come next chap...**

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